In response, Assistant Digital Economy Minister Andrew Charlton told Sky News Sunday Agenda the government was not considering the prospect at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to get ahead of what might happen well off into the future. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s in prospect at the moment,\u201d Mr Charlton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are working to make sure that what\u2019s going to happen here is that as artificial intelligence comes in, it benefits Australian workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton pointed to the government\u2019s recently released report into the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, saying the current impacts were limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat report said that when we look at the impact of AI on jobs at the moment, that impact is modest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still seeing strong growth in graduate jobs. We\u2019re still seeing high rates of participation, low rates of unemployment, but we are early on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why the Minister for Employment is not being complacent about this. She is bringing unions together with businesses and working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018Bring](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/87d8d54c62ce112efb1c613d31ee2428.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said the government\u2019s objective was to ensure workers shared in the benefits of AI while drawing on unions\u2019 experience managing technological change.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian unions have worked through waves of technological changes that have hit Australian workplaces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have an enormous amount of experience in making sure that new technologies as they come into the workplaces ultimately benefit all Australians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has the same objective. We want to see that this technology comes into workplaces in a way that benefits Australian workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s approach comes as Labor prepares to debate artificial intelligence at the party\u2019s national conference in Adelaide, from Thursday to Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Australian Services Union has advocated for a four-day work week, as well as six months\u2019 notice for any job losses linked to the technology.<\/p>\n
Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume told Sky News Sunday Agenda that Labor\u2019s AI outlook had failed to address the broader opportunities of the technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity is incredible to lift productivity, which is what our economy so desperately needs, but that\u2019s not what (Anthony Albanese) is talking about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She criticised proposals backed by some unions that would give unions greater influence over the adoption of AI in workplaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the ACTU has actually spoken about unions having a veto over private sectors adopting AI technology. Now, that would be unprecedented,\u201d Ms Hume said.<\/p>\n
She said unions having veto power over the adoption of AI was like giving veto powers over email technology because it would put people in the mail room out of a job.<\/p>\n
Ms Hume also predicted the issue would become a major point of debate at Labor\u2019s national conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Albanese government has sought to play down suggestions artificial intelligence could pave the way for a four-day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45033,45051,45043,45040,45034,45037,45076,45049,39719,45042,395,1131,45055,45065,1757,45084,45070,22726,483,45036,1132,45047,44973,45054,22,4917,23,4920,5477,45075,39376,45086,21,29113,45015,4919,45041,7872,22074,1394,45044,19424,3123,45071,45067,45064,45073,45068,45074,10207,45060,8461,15705,156,45059,45052,45088,45066,44388,44640,45089,3116,45032,21550,7350,45083,1178,45080,6499,3733,12333,16821,45069,44376,45063,45035,45061,40619,45058,45081,45050,45048,45079,41178,45087,36878,43941,45085,40064,45056,40197,45072,38131,23380,40695,40910,45046,45077,44604,37772,40224,37011,45078,45039,45053,36698,45057,45045,38964,7444,15593,1009,45062,45082,45038,19850,40906],"class_list":["post-53606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-ai-outlook","tag-s-approach","tag-s-national-conference","tag-s-objective","tag-a-four-day-work-week","tag-a-job","tag-a-major-point","tag-a-veto","tag-a-way","tag-actu","tag-adelaide","tag-ai","tag-ai-debate","tag-ai-technology","tag-albanese-government","tag-all-australians","tag-an-enormous-amount","tag-andrew-charlton","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-any-job-losses","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-assistant-digital-economy-minister","tag-assistant-digital-economy-minister-andrew-charlton","tag-assistant-technology-minister-andrew-charlton","tag-au","tag-auspol","tag-australia","tag-australian-politics","tag-australian-services-union","tag-australian-unions","tag-australian-workers","tag-australian-workplaces","tag-austrlia","tag-businesses","tag-charlton","tag-coalition","tag-competitive","tag-data-centres","tag-debate","tag-digital-economy","tag-email-technology","tag-employment","tag-experience","tag-four-day-work-week","tag-four-day-working-week","tag-graduate-jobs","tag-greater-influence","tag-high-rates","tag-hume","tag-investment","tag-its-ai-strategy","tag-jane-hume","tag-jobs","tag-labor","tag-labor-braces","tag-low-rates","tag-major-debate","tag-motions","tag-mr-charlton","tag-ms-hume","tag-new-technologies","tag-notice","tag-our-economy","tag-participation","tag-people","tag-private-sectors","tag-productivity","tag-proposals","tag-prospect","tag-report","tag-response","tag-saturday","tag-six-months","tag-sky-news-sunday-agenda","tag-snapp-sunday-agenda-deputy-liberal-leader-jane-hume","tag-some-unions","tag-strong-growth","tag-suggestions","tag-technological-change","tag-technological-changes","tag-that-impact","tag-that-report","tag-the-actu","tag-the-adoption","tag-the-ai","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-australian","tag-the-australian-services-union","tag-the-benefits","tag-the-broader-opportunities","tag-the-call","tag-the-current-impacts","tag-the-future","tag-the-government","tag-the-impact","tag-the-issue","tag-the-labor-party-national-conference","tag-the-mail-room","tag-the-minister","tag-the-moment","tag-the-opportunity","tag-the-party","tag-the-prospect","tag-the-same-objective","tag-the-technology","tag-the-way","tag-the-workplaces","tag-this-technology","tag-this-week","tag-thursday","tag-unemployment","tag-unions","tag-veto-power","tag-veto-powers","tag-waves","tag-workers","tag-workplaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}