SA premier announces royal commission into AI
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence (AI).
Malinauskas has just come back from a trip to the US, where he met AI leaders and signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI.
At a press conference on Monday, Malinauskas said the commission would examine the future impacts of AI and place South Australia at the forefront of the global debate about its use. He said the royal commission would start in October, report no later than 1 July 2027, and would look at the impacts, risks and opportunities of AI across education, industry, public health, arts and culture. He said AI’s rapid development could not occur “unchecked”.
The Labor government I lead has a record of stepping up and protecting young people when it comes to social media, and this is no different.
We are looking to embrace the opportunity of AI, but not in a way that leaves us with regrets.
He said the discussion should focus on “how it will be deployed in our society, which is far more consequential than where a datacentre gets built”. He said:
Never before in human history have we contended with a world where there is something that’s smarter than us. Now we have it, and its intelligence is only going to increase at warp speed over the course of the next two years alone. That will change everything, and we need to make sure that what it changes is done on our terms for the interests of people.
Key events
Jonathan Barrett
News Corp loses paid subscribers
News Corp’s stable of Australian newspapers has suffered a difficult 12 months, with four out of its five main mastheads losing paid subscribers, according to new company accounts.
Total paid subscribers for print and digital fell from 151,335 to 140,808 at the Daily Telegraph and 153,983 to 148,753 at the Herald Sun, according to analysis of annual figures.
Paid subscriber numbers also fell at the Courier Mail and the Advertiser.
The Rupert Murdoch-backed company did record an increase in paid subscribers at The Australian, rising from 335,903 to 341,975.
Last week, News Corp reported a slide across digital subscriptions at its Australian mastheads, erasing momentum gained in recent years.
The news division had been growing digital subscriptions in recent years amid a transition away from its reliance on a traditional newspaper base.
Andrew Hastie calls for federal parliamentary committee into AI instead of SA’s royal commission
The shadow industry minister, Andrew Hastie, has called for a federal parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence, rather than the South Australian royal commission announced today.
Hastie said he welcomed the SA premier Peter Malinauskas’ decision but believed the issue “sits within the realm of the national parliament”. Hastie said:
I do think artificial intelligence has strategic, moral and economic implications for the Australian people. And it’s really important that we look at this from a national perspective.
I think it should be a tripartisan committee that should examine the issues. Take as long as they need to ask the hard questions, take as many public submissions as possible, and see what comes of that.
‘Every tradie in Sydney has their wife as the director’: Icac witness questioned over fake invoices
Penry Buckley
Icac’s Operation Rosny has concluded hearings for today. Questioning of Jeremy Greenwood, who has been named in two of Icac’s allegations, focused on registered lobbying company Beckington, set up by Greenwood and Reformer Christian Ellis.
Beckington is alleged to have issued fake invoices for consulting advice for payments which in fact went to factional Liberal work.
Greenwood was asked about an arrangement under which Reformer Robert Assaf was paid a 10% finders fee for any new clients he brought to Beckington. The inquiry has previously heard that rather than being invoiced under Assaf’s name these were invoiced under Assaf’s wife name as being for education consultancy services.
Asked why Assaf had sought this arrangement, Greenwood said:
I just remember having a conversation and someone used the line, ‘Every tradie in Sydney has their wife as the director.’
Greenwood earlier told the commission that his wife was having contractions during the hearing today. There was no further update on this, and it is not known if it will have any impact on Greenwood’s expected appearance tomorrow.
‘Effectively double capacity soon’: Minns hopes second airport eases travel demand
New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he is cautiously optimistic about the opening of the state’s second airport, after days of chaos at Sydney airport.
Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Minns said Western Sydney international airport would increase the city’s aviation capacity when it opens to passengers in October.
We’ve got another airport opening soon, Western Sydney international airport, which will massively increase capacity in Sydney. I have to say, we are a little concerned if we are already stretched in our single airport or our major airport, because we are about to effectively double capacity soon.
The disruption has been attributed to air traffic controller staff shortages. Minns said the situation had highlighted the need to recruit and train more controllers at the new airport.
I didn’t realise it was a particular concern until this weekend when so many flights were cancelled and there were revelations about these two aircraft nearly colliding.
Obviously we will need to skill up and recruit a whole bunch of air traffic controllers to increase capacity in Sydney, which is going to be a huge boom for our economy and make life a lot easier for Sydney-based travellers.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian education minister puts forward revised teachers pay offer
The Victorian education minister, Gabrielle Williams, held a press conference this afternoon after putting a revised pay offer on the table to resolve the ongoing pay dispute with public school teachers.
The new offer builds on the previous offer of a 28.3% pay increase over four years by adding a $2,000 good faith payment for all teachers, enshrining workload management protections in the EBA and expanding a 1% increase for top of the range teachers to also cover education support staff.
She says its an “incredibly attractive offer” and would make the state’s teachers the “best paid” in the nation. Williams went on:
We of course hope that our teachers and education support staff will have a close look at this offer and understand that we come to this in a good place and wanting to genuinely ensure that we respect the incredibly important work they do in setting our children up for career pathways that are fulfilling and that ultimately also bolster our economy and our community. I just want to thank all of those teachers and education support staff for being along with us on this journey as we work together to try and get a fair deal. I know there is still a process to run, and we don’t want to preempt that process. It’s important that as a government we respect the process that now has to take place.
Members will vote on the new offer early next week. They had planned to strike on 19 August.
Krishani Dhanji
No imminent Labor conscience vote on telehealth for voluntary assisted dying
Labor MPs won’t get a conscience vote when the Greens and independent MP Kate Chaney introduce a bill to allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services.
It’s despite Labor’s national conference in July deciding its members would get a conscience vote on the issue.
One MP used Monday’s meeting of the Labor caucus at Parliament House to ask the health minister, Mark Butler, how MPs would be able to vote on private member’s bills on the issue.
Butler told the caucus that procedural votes – for example, on whether a non-government bill should be progressed and brought forward for a vote – would be a binding party position.
Only when Labor introduces its own bill will the caucus be allowed to vote with their conscience. Butler said that move will not be imminent.
Penry Buckley
‘We have waited four years for this’: clashes over Icac witness’s memory of invoice
Returning to the Icac’s Operation Rosny, questioning of Jeremy Greenwood has focused on Catholic Schools NSW, which is under investigation for prohibited donations allegedly arranged and approved by CEO, Dallas McInerney, including through lobbying firm Beckington, set up by Reformer Christian Ellis and Greenwood in 2019.
Asked about proposals and a $16,000 invoice for work sent by Beckington to the schools governing body for work for July 2019, before the lobbying company was formally established, Greenwood repeatedly said he could not recall what work was done.
At one point, Dwyer asked: “Who can brief this commission, given your absence of memory, as to what work was actually done … ?”
Greenwood suggested asking Ellis, or former Catholic Schools NSW communications manager, James Tudehope, who is not named in Icac’s allegations but has declined a request to give evidence after moving to New Zealand this year. Ellis has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence.
After Greenwood said it was “inconvenient” for him that both men were overseas, Dwyer suggested it was “inconvenient for the commission … and inconvenient for the public trying to work out why this money was being committed on a monthly basis”.
Greenwood responds: “We have waited four years for this.”
‘Fork in the road’: SA royal commission to examine how AI is used in schools and government
Following our previous post on the announcement of a royal commission into AI in South Australia, the premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the inquiry would examine “how the technology is used and deployed in our society”.
The commission will look into how AI is implemented and deployed in workplaces, government services and other sectors. Malinauskas said:
I genuinely believe we are at a really important fork in the road where we can choose to allow this industry to come to our country and evolve in a way that is unregulated and unchecked, and we will be subject to the determinations it makes, rather than the other way around, or we can choose to set the agenda.
The commission will also focus on how young people use AI at school and across all levels of education. Malinauskas said:
Clearly we cannot afford a situation where a child comes out of school not knowing how to use AI. That would render them potentially redundant in a new modern labour market.
But simultaneously we can’t have children leaving school not knowing how to do calculations for themselves without AI and getting the balance right about how AI is used in schools and how it isn’t allowed to be used in schools.
SA premier announces royal commission into AI
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence (AI).
Malinauskas has just come back from a trip to the US, where he met AI leaders and signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI.
At a press conference on Monday, Malinauskas said the commission would examine the future impacts of AI and place South Australia at the forefront of the global debate about its use. He said the royal commission would start in October, report no later than 1 July 2027, and would look at the impacts, risks and opportunities of AI across education, industry, public health, arts and culture. He said AI’s rapid development could not occur “unchecked”.
The Labor government I lead has a record of stepping up and protecting young people when it comes to social media, and this is no different.
We are looking to embrace the opportunity of AI, but not in a way that leaves us with regrets.
He said the discussion should focus on “how it will be deployed in our society, which is far more consequential than where a datacentre gets built”. He said:
Never before in human history have we contended with a world where there is something that’s smarter than us. Now we have it, and its intelligence is only going to increase at warp speed over the course of the next two years alone. That will change everything, and we need to make sure that what it changes is done on our terms for the interests of people.
Albanese confirms amendments to gambling laws, including inducements and ads
Josh Butler
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed Labor will agree to amend its gambling legislation, promising action on inducements, as well as the targeting of advertising and how children may be exposed to ads.
We’re still chasing the particular details of what the government is onboard with, after a meeting between Albanese and Angus Taylor which the Liberals described as “very positive”.
Albanese told his caucus that “further work and amendments” would be coming on gambling inducements, including “making sure that those issues are dealt with in a constructive way, making sure that we get the balance right between people who want to go along and have a punt on a Saturday at the races, but also that problem gambling is actually dealt with.”
Albanese didn’t provide specifics, but he said the legislation would be amended in the House of Representatives this week to include “some really practical amendments dealing with the targeting of advertising, dealing with reducing children’s exposure”.
More to come soon.
