LABOR SILENCES BUSINESS AND PANDERS TO UNIONS ON AI

The Hon Alex Hawke MP

Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

MEDIA RELEASE

9 December 2025

LABOR SILENCES BUSINESS AND PANDERS TO UNIONS ON AI

Businesses across Australia have been left voiceless on the future of AI with the Albanese Labor Government’s decision to cut its own Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisory Body.

In response to a Senate Question on Notice from the Opposition, the Government has confirmed it "will not proceed" with the consultative body, which was pitched in mid-2024 by dumped Industry Minister Ed Husic as a key forum for business to engage with government over the direction of AI regulation.

The body, which is separate to the Artificial Intelligence Expert Group, was funded in the 2024-25 Budget.

Since the Advisory Body’s axing, Industry Minister Tim Ayres has said unions should be at the "top table", said workers with concerns about AI should "join the union and get active", and released the National AI Plan which paves the way for unions to "co-design" AI systems.

Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation, Alex Hawke, said Labor’s AI priorities were all wrong.

"The Government’s decision to axe their own AI advisory body, which was supposed to help connect government and business, is a kick in the teeth for the Australian business community," Mr Hawke said.

"Industry Minister Tim Ayres is trying to get his union mates into more Australian workplaces by pushing for unions to co-design AI systems.

"AI is too important an economic opportunity for Australia to fumble. Australia could be using AI to help further develop sovereign capabilities, particularly in manufacturing and critical minerals extraction; Labor is turning AI into another industrial relations battleground."

Announced last week, Labor’s National AI Plan has come two years after dumped Industry Minister Ed Husic commenced consultations on AI regulation and more than four years after the Coalition’s landmark Digital Economy Strategy and AI Action Plan.

ENDS