Australian workers expect the government to act to protect them from AI harms. There is a clear reform solution at hand

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Australia’s major political parties are edging towards rare consensus. Labor and the Coalition increasingly want to take a major bet on artificial intelligence. Yet, just as the parties are coming together, the Australian community is running the other way.

Last year, only 30% of Australians believed the benefits of AI outweighed the risks. In 2026, community trust in AI appears to be falling even further.

Federal-state stoush comes as rating agency warns that electricity bills could skyrocket

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Queensland and the Northern Territory have rejected the federal government’s plans to mandate that AI datacentres use renewable power, rubbishing Anthony Albanese’s proposals to regulate the booming technology as “underdeveloped ideas that hand increased power to Canberra”.

The latest federal-state stoush on energy comes as S&P Global, the economic rating agency, warns that power use from datacentres could rise five-fold by 2035 to 10% of Australia’s total consumption, and that a mismatch between delivery timelines for datacentres and renewable projects could lead to energy bills skyrocketing.