{"id":88935,"date":"2026-09-05T20:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88935\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T20:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:39:46","slug":"liberal-mp-andrew-hastie-warns-business-leaders-on-the-need-for-a-sovereign-ai-capability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88935\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal MP Andrew Hastie warns business leaders on the need for a sovereign AI capability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has urged business leaders to be cautious about adopting AI technology<\/a> developed in China, warning Australia \u201ccannot be held ransom to a hostile state actor with a kill switch\u201d. <\/p>\n

The opposition industry spokesman used a speech at a festival of fintech leaders in Melbourne to raise concerns about China increasing its influence through exporting the technology, while declaring it was essential Australia developed sover\u00adeign AI capability.<\/p>\n

As Anthony Albanese prepares to develop laws to regulate the rollout of data centres, Mr Hastie said the Coalition was exploring options to build a sovereign AI lab with local workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot be held ransom to a hostile state actor with a kill switch,\u201d he said, according to a copy of the speech.<\/p>\n

The aspiring Liberal leader said regulating Chinese AI<\/a> would be far more complex than the Turnbull government\u2019s decision to ban \u00adHuawei from the 5G rollout.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause a decade ago, there was only one customer whose procurement choices would be \u00adaffected \u2013 the federal government,\u201d he said. \u201cToday there are maybe 27 million customers that are all making multiple procurement \u00addecisions in AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Xi<\/p>\n

With Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles among senior government<\/a> figures who travelled to the US this week to encourage investment in the technology, Mr Hastie said Australia was unprepared to deal with the AI race between Washington and Beijing<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has geopolitical, strategic, economic, and moral implications for Australia,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAI is going to reorder the global economy, and it will force choices upon us whether we like it or not. Questions of sovereignty, security, productivity, and competitiveness are central to the challenge posed by AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Hastie said he personally felt the vulnerability of reliance on offshore AI when his access to Claude was cut after the US government suspended foreign access <\/a>to Anthropic\u2019s Fable 5 model. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no say in an American decision that reached directly into our system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine many of you use Claude, too, and had the same experience of helplessness; it was a reminder that geopolitics can impact our work directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat feeling has not gone away \u2013 even if we pretend that it\u2019s business as usual \u2013 because the reality is that we don\u2019t have a sovereign frontier or foundational AI model here in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are physically tethered to US and Chinese frontier labs by submarine cables with no control over data, algorithms, or strategic direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"China<\/p>\n

Mr Hastie suggested the Coalition was open to supporting the Albanese government\u2019s proposed legal framework to regulate AI, establishing a joint select committee to examine legislation on the issue. But he said Australia lacked competitiveness due to Labor\u2019s tax, energy and regulatory policies. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe private sector is being choked by a burdensome taxation regime, high energy prices, stifling red\/green and woke tape, to name a few drivers of declining productivity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cInflation is also raising the cost of capital, making it difficult to attract investment for our start-ups in fintech, medtech, and biotech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are watching homegrown talent and intellectual property head offshore, as the Albanese government kills off the incentives for Australian talent and tech to stay here. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Labor\u2019s changes to the capital gains tax and research development tax incentive will only make it more difficult for Australian start-ups to stay and scale up\u00a0here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/a>Greg Brown<\/a>Chief political correspondent<\/p>\n

Greg Brown is The Australian’s chief political reporter. He was previously Canberra bureau chief and before that spent five years covering federal politics for The Australian, where he built a reputation as a newsbreaker consistently setting the national agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has urged business leaders to be cautious about adopting AI technology developed in China,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[151926,151896,151887,151902,36851,37747,151898,151870,54980,151911,151871,68293,41051,134795,151925,151883,151886,151914,151920,151916,46898,151880,151884,50028,1131,45065,151893,50227,151922,151921,151890,151901,483,995,22,23,107833,151910,21,8099,323,151885,24064,62653,2285,151906,123069,53281,996,122505,38042,2176,7872,44371,107418,151904,14928,151894,151927,9715,151900,73485,33519,151899,151881,111938,151895,151872,1762,10207,117546,40177,156,21552,15150,70629,151882,140358,33154,260,40960,151889,141971,151928,151876,151888,151877,43700,151907,60956,68406,151917,1178,16460,146640,48576,151875,11091,151905,72380,151873,62191,151930,10045,151929,151931,151918,143099,151909,151908,36878,57772,53246,133144,10264,38710,151924,14897,107676,88799,40910,41106,151891,52696,48951,63671,42533,151878,151932,45053,151913,36628,41828,91432,151874,38964,31666,151919,151923,151903,151892,151897,151879,151915,151912],"class_list":["post-88935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-huawei","tag-hostile-state-actor","tag-s-adversaries-mr","tag-s-ai-warning","tag-s-changes","tag-s-decision","tag-s-fable-5-model","tag-s-proposed-legal-framework","tag-s-tax","tag-27-million-customers","tag-a-burdensome-taxation-regime","tag-a-copy","tag-a-decade","tag-a-festival","tag-a-few-drivers","tag-a-growing-stream","tag-a-hostile-state-actor","tag-a-joint-select-committee","tag-a-kill-switch","tag-a-new-global-ai-order","tag-a-reminder","tag-a-sovereign-ai-lab","tag-a-sovereign-frontier-or-foundational-ai-model","tag-a-speech","tag-ai","tag-ai-technology","tag-ai-generated-cartoons","tag-algorithms","tag-an-american-decision","tag-and-biotech","tag-and-competitiveness","tag-and-moral-implications","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-anthropic","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-start-ups","tag-australian-talent-and-tech","tag-austrlia","tag-beijing","tag-business","tag-business-caution","tag-business-leaders","tag-capital","tag-china","tag-chinese-ai","tag-chinese-president-xi-jinping","tag-choices","tag-claude","tag-competitiveness","tag-concerns","tag-data","tag-data-centres","tag-deputy-prime-minister-richard-marles","tag-economic","tag-energy-and-regulatory-policies","tag-fintech","tag-fintech-leaders","tag-foreign-access","tag-friday","tag-geopolitical","tag-geopolitics","tag-hastie","tag-helplessness","tag-high-energy-prices","tag-high-risk","tag-his-access","tag-homegrown-talent-and-intellectual-property-head","tag-inflation","tag-investment","tag-its-influence","tag-july-17","tag-labor","tag-laws","tag-legislation","tag-liberal-frontbencher-andrew-hastie","tag-liberal-mp-andrew-hastie","tag-local-workers","tag-medtech","tag-melbourne","tag-mr-hastie","tag-multiple-procurement-decisions","tag-no-control","tag-no-say","tag-offshore-ai","tag-only-one-customer","tag-open-source-technology","tag-options","tag-our-start-ups","tag-our-system","tag-our-work","tag-premier-tech-conference","tag-productivity","tag-questions","tag-ransom","tag-reliance","tag-reuters-china-correspondent-laurie-chen","tag-security","tag-senior-government-figures","tag-shanghai","tag-sovereign-ai-capability-as","tag-sovereignty","tag-stifling-red-green","tag-strategic","tag-strategic-direction","tag-submarine-cables","tag-tax-and-research-development-tax-incentive","tag-that-feeling","tag-the-5g-rollout","tag-the-ai-race","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-capital","tag-the-challenge","tag-the-champion","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-cost","tag-the-fast-moving-sector-with","tag-the-federal-government","tag-the-global-economy","tag-the-incentives","tag-the-issue","tag-the-latest","tag-the-opposition-industry-spokesman","tag-the-private-sector","tag-the-reality","tag-the-rollout","tag-the-rules","tag-the-same-experience","tag-the-speech-the-aspiring-liberal-leader","tag-the-technology","tag-the-turnbull-government","tag-the-us","tag-the-us-government","tag-the-vulnerability","tag-the-world-artificial-intelligence-conference","tag-this-week","tag-today","tag-u-s-influence","tag-us-and-chinese-frontier-labs","tag-usual","tag-waic","tag-washington-and-beijing","tag-whose-procurement-choices","tag-woke-tape","tag-yoni-bashan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88935","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=88935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www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