Latest news with #Productivity Commission
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labor under pressure on plans to regulate AI as Coalition accuses government of mixed messages
The federal government is facing mounting pressure to confirm how it plans to regulate fast-growing artificial intelligence technology, with the Coalition critical of mixed messaging from Labor ministers about whether new laws are needed. As debate erupts over big tech companies seeking access to Australian material including journalism and books to train AI models, Anthony Albanese has stressed the importance of protecting copyright. But the shadow productivity minister, Andrew Bragg, has urged Australia not to squander its opportunity to harness AI's benefits, warning against any major new rules. 'The risk is that we over-regulate. The risk is that we make ourselves even more uncompetitive,' Bragg told Guardian Australia. '[AI] might be the only free kick we get on productivity.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email A suggestion from the Productivity Commission to give big tech companies an exemption to copyright laws for 'text and data mining', or to expand existing fair dealing rules, prompted fierce pushback from arts, creative and media companies this week, alarmed that Australian work could be used by massively wealthy tech companies – without compensation – to train AI models. Federal ministers, including the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, have said they have no plans to change copyright law, and spoken in favour of creatives and rights holders. Albanese on Thursday echoed concerns over protecting copyright, but also said the government was keen to reap the benefits of AI technology, including productivity gains, expected to be a focus of the upcoming economic reform roundtable. 'My government's a government that supports the arts,' Albanese said at a press conference in Melbourne, calling AI a 'complex' issue. 'We as a society will work [the balance of AI risks and opportunities] through. It's good there's debate about it, but copyright and intellectual property is important.' The government's plans to respond to the fast-moving technology have shifted, prompting Bragg to call on Labor to offer certainty to the industry. Former industry and science minister Ed Husic had set out plans for a standalone AI act to regulate the field; the productivity minister, Andrew Leigh, has advocated for a low-intervention approach described by some as 'light-touch'; the new industry and science minister, Tim Ayres, has spoken about regulation and legislation among plans still to be decided, as well as giving trade unions more say in developing the sector. Chalmers has pushed for a 'sensible middle path' between high and low regulation. 'I just think the government has no idea, really, what it wants to do. They have more position than you can poke a stick at on AI,' Bragg said, noting these positions. 'We don't need new laws,' he said. 'The government need to say to the regulators, 'How are you going in enforcing the laws the parliament already has on the books?' before they look to put more laws on those books.' Julian Leeser, the shadow attorney general and arts spokesperson, echoed similar sentiments, saying creators deserve fair compensation and calling for clarity from the government. 'In the real world, we wouldn't let someone use an artist's work for commercial purposes without paying for it. The virtual world should be no different,' he said in a statement. 'This government just doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to AI, and it has no plan to protect Australian artists.' Labor senator Tony Sheldon, who chaired an inquiry into AI in the last term of parliament, wrote on X that copyright laws 'must be enforced to ensure big tech fairly licenses and compensates artists, writers, and other creatives'. 'Despite the Productivity Commission's interim report, the Albanese Government has been clear - we stand with Australia's creative workers and industries, and we will not compromise our copyright laws,' Sheldon wrote. 'If the Googles and Amazons of the world want to use Australia's extraordinary trove of written and recorded treasures, they can license and pay for it just like everyone else.'
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Prime minister plays down tax reform opportunity at productivity meeting
The prime minister has talked down the prospect of major tax reform emerging from its productivity round table, less than a fortnight from the forum at which the treasurer has said nothing will be off the table. Tax policy will be a key item on the agenda at the meeting, with union bosses and welfare groups already calling for changes to the politically-fraught negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks, while business groups have separately backed the Productivity Commission's recommendations for a cut to company tax rates. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly said he would not rule things in or out before the round table, billed as a contest of ideas as the government seeks to increase productivity and return the budget to sustainable footing. But Mr Albanese on Thursday played down the prospect of major tax reform emerging from the forum in the short-term, flagging he was focused on what the government has already announced. "The only tax policy we're implementing is the one we took to the election," he told reporters in Melbourne. "People can put forward whatever idea they want, and what you'll see is five or six ideas coming forward a day. That's a good thing ... It's not government policy, government policy is decided around a cabinet table." The comments do not rule out the prospect that new taxes could be implemented after the next election, similar to how the government introduced its proposed tax on large super accounts last term. In June the treasurer expressed his hopes for the three day summit, telling the National Press Club that "no sensible progress can be made on productivity, resilience or budget sustainability without proper consideration of more tax reform". A day before the prime minister's comments, in response to a question about negative gearing and capital gains tax changes, Mr Chalmers reiterated that he didn't want to "get in the habit of knocking off ideas before we get in the room". "I want people to feel like their contributions are valued because they are," he said. But he also noted the government has not changed its position on tax and that any policy would be decided in a "considered, methodical way" though cabinet. Mr Chalmers has said he is seeking consensus from participants, though the ABC understands there will be no joint communique at the round table's conclusion. "I don't pretend that when I stand up ... on the Thursday night of that week that we'll have solved every challenge in our economy or that we'll have fully formed, fully costed, very specific policy outcomes," he said on Wednesday. "It's not about replacing the important decision-making functions of ministers. It's about testing and teasing out the next steps which build on the substantial agenda that we're already delivering and rolling out." Labor took its plan to increase taxes on people with super balances over $3 million to the election and in the days leading up to the start of the campaign passed a "modest" tax cut for all workers. The treasurer has asked that any proposals brought to the forum — to be held at Parliament House from August 19 to 21 — must be budget-neutral or budget-positive. Liberal senator James Paterson on Wednesday said it was clear the prime minister had reigned in his treasurer. "I thought it was very pointed the other day when the prime minister said that just because this is a meeting in the cabinet room doesn't mean it's subsuming the role of the cabinet," he told Sky News. "You don't earn a mandate from a hand-picked group of small experts meeting in the cabinet room. You earn a mandate by taking policies to an election, and this government has no mandate for any tax increases."
