ADM+S calls for stronger regulation of data centres and public accountability in national AI infrastructure reforms
Author ADM+S Centre
Date 14 October 2026
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society has made a submission to the Australian Government's Getting it right: Building AI infrastructure that works for Australia consultation, arguing that Australia has a critical opportunity to establish strong, nationally consistent standards for AI safety and AI infrastructure. The submission warns that rapid growth in data centres and AI development must not come at the expense of communities, the environment or public trust.
Responding to issues raised in Part 1 – Managing growth in large data centres and the AI training opportunity and Part 3 – Conditions for AI training of the consultation paper, ADM+S supports the development of national AI standards but argues that voluntary commitments from technology companies are not sufficient and should be backed by mandatory safeguards, transparency requirements and public accountability measures.
The submission calls for mandatory transparency and reporting requirements, robust environmental standards for energy, water and land use, meaningful community participation in planning processes, and stronger protections for communities affected by the rapid expansion of data centres and AI infrastructure.
On AI Safety, researchers argue that Australia needs to look beyond mandatory incident reporting to ensure that emerging safety issues are mitigated, and harms are remedied. AI safety means more than just technical risks, encompassing privacy, discrimination, human rights, security and environmental impacts.
The authors also recommend moving beyond voluntary commitments by AI companies and introducing mandatory governance measures including independent oversight, incident reporting, safety evaluations and accountability mechanisms. It also highlights the importance of building sovereign AI capability by investing in Australian research, skills development and public-interest infrastructure, ensuring that the benefits of AI training and innovation are shared across Australian society.
Led by Kimberlee Weatherall with Henry Fraser, Christine Parker, Jake Goldenfein and Jacky Zeng, the submission examines how Australia can balance investment in AI infrastructure with environmental sustainability, community interests and public accountability, while also proposing stronger governance of AI training through mandatory safety safeguards, transparency requirements, independent oversight and measures to ensure AI development delivers benefits for Australian research, innovation and workforce capability.
Read the full submission ADM+S submission to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s consultation on Getting it right: building AI infrastructure that works for Australia
