AI policies in Australia

National AI Plan

The National AI Plan is the Australian Government's whole-of-government AI strategy with three goals: capture the opportunity through infrastructure, domestic capability and investment; spread the benefits through adoption, skills and better public services; and keep Australians safe through legal and regulatory frameworks and responsible-practice guidance. It consolidates existing AI funding commitments and signals a sector-by-sector regulatory approach supported by an AI Safety Institute, rather than a standalone AI act.

Australian Voluntary AI Safety Standard

Voluntary AI Safety Standard (Australia)

The Voluntary AI Safety Standard gives Australian organisations ten guardrails for developing and deploying AI safely and responsibly: accountability and governance, risk management, data governance and protection, testing and monitoring, human control and intervention, user transparency, contestability, supply-chain transparency, record keeping, and stakeholder engagement. The guardrails were designed to align with the mandatory guardrails proposed for high-risk settings so that early adopters would be prepared if those became law.

Australian mandatory guardrails proposal

Proposals paper: introducing mandatory guardrails for AI in high-risk settings (Australia)

The proposals paper sought views on ten mandatory guardrails for developers and deployers of AI in high-risk settings, a principles-based definition of high-risk AI (with general-purpose AI treated as high-risk), and three regulatory options: adapting existing laws, framework legislation, or a new cross-economy AI Act. The guardrails mirror the Voluntary AI Safety Standard, covering accountability, risk management, data governance, testing, human control, transparency, contestability, supply-chain transparency, records, and conformity assessment.