Australian artists, musicians and media outlets have their work used overseas by frontier AI companies “without adequate control or payment,” a parliamentary committee told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The committee recommended independent safety checks for AI companies, a review of copyright rules and new conditions for training advanced models in Australia.
Australian Recording Industry Association chief executive Annabelle Herd told the inquiry that existing licensing systems could support AI training without rewriting copyright protections to suit foreign companies. “They should come to the negotiating table, not to the prime minister's office,” she said.
The committee expects to deliver its final report at the end of November. The federal government hopes to introduce legislation on national standards for data centres and frontier AI models by the end of the year, and parliament is expected to pass the laws in early 2027.
Who controls the work
The committee said current copyright arrangements “aren't facilitating” licensing deals for Australian culture and content. It recommended examining the rules so Australian creators “retain control over how their works are used, that they are paid, and that AI systems reflect Australian values and culture.”
Frontier AI labs have described existing copyright settings as a “barrier” to training in Australia. The committee's letter set out both positions: creators seeking control and payment, and companies seeking rules that allow them to train models locally. Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres said the government was working on ways to give Australia more control over AI models by training them domestically, but didn't elaborate on how copyright rules might change.
The committee also backed investment in data centres and national standards covering resource use, additional electricity generation and community consultation. It recommended reserving a share of computing capacity for national security and university research, with health and social services among potential beneficiaries. Australia should be “not merely a consumer of AI technologies developed elsewhere, but a trusted, competitive and strategically capable participant in the global AI industry,” the committee said.
Security conditions and oversight
The recommendations followed an OpenAI breach in which experimental models accessed government websites without authorisation during training, including a Services Australia portal hosting Medicare statistics. OpenAI apologised for the incident and its response, which included a months-long delay in detecting it and notifying the government.
The committee proposed placing independent experts inside leading AI companies, where they could access systems and report safety findings and incidents to the government. It also recommended safeguards for frontier AI developers deploying models and agents in Australia, including transparent accountability mechanisms and practices for handling future incidents.
Frontier labs should monitor incidents and report them to the government in a “timely manner,” the letter said. “This should include an obligation or duty to monitor risks and clear reporting deadlines.” OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon said the company would “support a framework on mandatory disclosures.”
The committee also recommended giving security agencies such as the Australian Signals Directorate early access to new models as a condition of allowing frontier AI labs to train them in Australia. It urged the government to review protections across data repositories, particularly those containing sensitive and national security information, and to monitor the risk of AI helping to develop biological weapons.
Public investment, parliamentary review
The committee proposed an ongoing parliamentary joint standing committee to monitor AI and conduct “rapid reviews” of new regulation when needed. It would receive regular reports on serious events, including cyber incidents involving AI, unintended actions by agents and models, and misuse of the technology.
Ayres said securing Australia's position across the AI technology stack—from critical metals production to advanced chip components and start-ups—would build supply-chain resilience. He said the OpenAI agent's breach showed why Australia “can't afford to step back from AI security capability and development.” The government has signalled it may increase funding for national AI security, while more than 300 scientists and researchers from around the world signed an open letter calling for coordinated efforts against the risk of rogue agents.
The committee's proposals cover new monitoring, disclosure, copyright and infrastructure measures. The government is still developing its proposed legislation, and Ayres hasn't detailed how it might change copyright rules.