Australia has a strong hand. Are we playing it well?
21/07/2026
As flagged at CEDA’s State of the Nation conference, the Prime Minister last week delivered a landmark speech, ‘AI in Australia’s Interests’.
It was positive to hear the overarching tone of the Prime Minister’s speech, focused on the opportunities before Australia and recognising that AI is a critical capability that will shape future growth and prosperity for all Australians. The establishment of the Office of AI, within the Prime Minister’s own department, provides leadership and is an important step towards coordinating Australia’s AI ambitions.
This speech comes at an important time. Despite its promise, research shows that adoption of AI among Australian businesses still lags international peers. As the speech recognised, deepening Australia’s sovereign capabilities will do much to both help boost adoption and shore up the resilience of our technological ecosystem.
But doing so will first require overcoming many hurdles. The need to plan for increased energy demand arising from Australia’s data centre boom was top of the agenda at CEDA’s recent round of national Energy Outlook events. Indeed, AEMO’s recently released Integrated System Plan forecasts a doubling of electricity consumption by 2050, with a large part of the increase being driven by data centres.
Done well, the Government’s move to provide greater clarity around the responsibilities of data centre operators with respect to power supply, connection costs and water efficiency could help to alleviate community concerns while still supporting investment.
Meanwhile, there has been widespread concern about the protection of intellectual property. There is a delicate balance to be struck here. Recent CEDA research highlights that realising economically valuable output from AI requires high-quality, local training data. In many sectors, however, this data is fragmented and at times underutilised due to rigid legal arrangements. Providing a framework that allows Australia to capture these benefits while also respecting the rights of creators would be a significant contribution from the Government.
As we seek to persistently prosecute and scale our AI ambitions in a way that builds and maintains community trust, cross-sectoral collaboration will be essential. This is an approach that CEDA has long championed, recognising that the pace of change requires business, government, and communities to work closely together to build a shared understanding of risk, opportunity, and expectations.
This philosophy sits at the heart of CEDA’s AI Community of Best Practice and informs our annual National AI Leadership Summit. Working with the National AI Centre, we have developed a program for this year’s Summit that seeks to advance understanding and debate of key issues including how AI is reshaping Australian – and global – productivity; the balance between sovereign capability and strategic alliance, and the transformation of work. The Summit features a powerful lineup of local and international speakers, and tickets are selling fast. Register today.
Renewed conflict in the Middle East has resurfaced concerns about inflation stemming from rising fuel costs and economic uncertainty. CEDA trustees can hear from our economists about what the latest bout of volatility means for Australia at our upcoming Mid-Year Economic Outlook events in August.
Join us in Sydney for NSW State of the State on 29 July to hear the Premier outline the state’s economic outlook, priorities for the year and key government initiatives, as well as how business can help bring them to life.
On 12 August, Data Centres and NSW’s Digital Future will examine how changing energy, water and planning settings are reshaping the economics of data centres and what NSW must do to secure its digital future.
Shaping the Future of Aged Care VIC will bring sector leaders together in Victoria on 18 August to explore how providers can navigate reform, workforce and financial pressures while continuing to deliver high-quality care.