Australian Senator David Pocock Criticizes Government Over AI Breach, Calls for AI Safety Act

Independent Senator David Pocock has accused the federal government of failing to act on AI safety after an OpenAI-powered agent accessed a portal containing Medicare statistics, renewing his demand for dedicated artificial intelligence laws.

Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Friday, Senator Pocock said the incident highlighted a problem experts had been warning about for years.

“This is not a new problem,” he said, arguing that independent MPs and senators had repeatedly pressed the government to strengthen Australia’s AI regulation.

Pocock said the government’s response—promising broad safeguards and publishing voluntary guidance online—was inadequate for the scale of the challenge. “Clearly, it’s not enough,” he said.

The Albanese government announced plans in 2024 for compulsory safeguards covering high-risk artificial intelligence systems and considered creating specific legislation to enforce those requirements.

But those plans were abandoned in December 2025. Instead, the government’s National AI Plan placed greater emphasis on existing laws and voluntary industry guidance.

Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton told the ABC on Friday that legislation requiring AI safety standards could be introduced as early as 2027.

However, Pocock said the original proposal appeared to have been put aside after pressure from the technology sector.

“It looks pretty silly now,” he said, referring to the decision to shelve the earlier AI safety legislation.

Pocock sits on the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, established by resolutions passed in Australia’s House of Representatives and Senate on August 20.

The committee must report by November 30 on the opportunities and dangers associated with AI, including the technology’s impact on copyright and intellectual property, as well as whether Australia’s current laws and regulatory systems are fit for purpose.

He said a previous government-appointed AI expert panel had already recommended ongoing surveillance of high-risk government websites and datasets.

Pocock also welcomed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s calls for international cooperation on AI, but said the government’s global message conflicted with its domestic approach. “It’s a bit rich that at home they have shelved plans for an AI Safety Act,” he said.

The independent senator extended his criticism to the government’s support for major data-centre projects, arguing that rapid expansion was taking place without sufficient oversight.

“We’re seeing dozens and dozens of data centres being approved with basically no guardrails,” Pocock said, adding that residents had contacted him after facilities were proposed as close as 20 metres from their homes.

He said technology companies would continue pursuing projects wherever possible, while planning decisions in New South Wales were making it harder for local communities to have their say. Data centres classified as state significant projects can bypass council consultation, limiting residents’ ability to question whether developments are appropriate.

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Pocock questioned whether the promised economic benefits of AI infrastructure would ultimately flow to the public. “We’re told these data centres will be one of the greatest things to happen to the country,” he said. “Once they’re built, what’s the long-term return for Australians? I still haven’t had a good answer to that.”

When questioned by Afternoon Briefing host Sarah Tomevska about the government’s new Intergenerational Report, which assumes average annual productivity growth of 1.2 per cent and identifies AI as a potentially significant contributor, Pocock said he was not convinced. 

‘I don’t think that’s enough of an argument to say we’re going to give up land, water, electricity, have big multinationals set up shop here … once the big construction boom is over, what’s the long-term return?’

He added that he believed companies like OpenAI should be welcome to operate in Australia ‘as long as [our] laws and regulations are up to scratch… currently they’re not.

‘This Medicare breach highlights that. It seems very unlikely under our current laws that you could actually press any charges.

‘If any Aussie did that I’m sure they would be on their way to gaol shortly, but because it’s a big AI company and they say, “these are autonomous bots we’ve created and we didn’t know or direct them to do it”, that doesn’t really cut it.’ 

Pocock’s comments come in the wake of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s address to the United Nations in New York on Thursday, where he urged world leaders to cooperate on challenges posed by artificial intelligence and climate change.

On Saturday, AAP reported Albanese again called for an international response after OpenAI confirmed its agents had accessed US education and commerce department sites.

The company said only publicly available information had been accessed. 

‘There needs to be an appropriate national response as well as an international response to make sure humans stay in charge of this new and emerging technology,’ he said.

‘It’s up to OpenAI to state why it is then that there are now multiple cases where this has occurred.’

Albanese added he was not surprised by similar activity occurring in the US.

‘If you have an AI agent act independently in the way it did here in Australia, it would make common sense that would have occurred in other places.’