Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce fast-tracked approval processes for AI projects and datacentres, alongside the creation of a new Office of AI within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, in a speech on Wednesday. The moves aim to bolster investor certainty and maintain public confidence as Australia becomes the first country to unify the economic, social, national security and environmental dimensions of AI under a single national framework.
The new Office of AI will operate with immediate effect, coordinating cross-government work and designing new Australian AI standards. It will support the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Tim Ayres, and the Assistant Science and Technology Minister, Andrew Charlton. The creation of the office is the latest step in the government's expanding AI for Government agenda, which includes the GovAI service already used to boost efficiency within departments.
Albanese will say, according to speech excerpts: "Getting this right will enhance our appeal to international investors, by delivering greater clarity and speed for approvals, and a streamlined process for verifying compliance. It also imposes an important discipline on government."
Faster approvals target datacentre infrastructure
The government's plan for faster approvals is aimed at AI infrastructure, particularly the energy-intensive datacentres that support large language models and other systems. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie warned that the expansion must be aligned with clean energy policy. "Datacentres are hungry for energy," she said. "Governments must proactively manage the surging demand, making sure that they are powered with clean renewable power. If they don't, there is a big risk that they will push up pollution from coal and gas at a time when we're already living through more frequent floods, and ferocious fires."
Copyright and security pressures
The speech does not detail the government's approach to copyright law, despite intense lobbying from AI companies seeking exemptions to train large models on Australian content. Ayres said on Tuesday that the prime minister would address the issue and reiterated that "there won't be a text and data mining exception in Australia."
Albanese will also highlight national security risks, noting that extremists and state actors already use AI to create propaganda and spread disinformation. The recently released national defence strategy labelled AI and machine learning as holding "the most significant potential for technological disruption" facing the country.
A coordinated push across government
Albanese will compare the moment to the development of civil aviation in the 1920s and genetics in the 1990s, arguing that AI requires a coordinated government response. The speech follows the Finance Department's launch of a multi-stage procurement process to expand the GovAI artificial intelligence service, which already provides AI chat tools to improve efficiency within government departments.
Why this matters for government
For public servants and policy professionals, the creation of a single AI office signals a shift toward more coordinated regulation and investment. Understanding the policy, security, and infrastructure dimensions of AI will become essential. An AI Learning Path for Policy Makers can help build the expertise needed to navigate these changes and contribute to the development of national standards.
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