Key facts
- Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan said artists' property rights must be respected and protected in any AI copyright changes.
- McLachlan said compensation for any use of artists' work should be assessed individually rather than through an industry-wide scheme.
- Anthropic put forward an opt-out model letting it scrape music, books and journalism unless a rights holder objects, the report said.
- Coalition members Ross Cadell and Michaelia Cash backed concerns that allowing AI scraping could amount to government acquisition of property.
- Shadow ministers Jonno Duniam and Aaron Violi said AI was too important to become an unnecessarily partisan political contest.
- Labor's AI package, covering copyright, datacentres, online safety and energy, is expected to be unveiled before the end of the year.
Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan said on November 14, 2026 that the works artists create must not be sacrificed to global corporate profiteering, as the Labor government considers copyright changes within a wider AI policy package covering datacentres, online safety, energy resources and economic benefits.
McLachlan, a South Australian backbencher, said artists' property rights must be respected and protected, and that it was unimaginable the nation might value the machine over beauty created by the artist. He said any compensation arrangements should be considered individually for each artist, adding that an industry-wide scheme would be difficult to make fair.
He tied the copyright question to property rights, saying the state should never compulsorily acquire or trade away an individual's property rights except in very limited circumstances and not without just compensation. Coalition members Ross Cadell and Michaelia Cash have backed concerns raised by Aria that granting AI companies permission to scrape copyrighted material could amount to an acquisition of property by the government, feeding a mooted constitutional challenge.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said it would be theft if creatives were not paid for their work. Some AI companies have rejected making agreements under existing copyright laws, arguing it is too difficult, and have said they need legal certainty before investing in Australia. Anthropic put forward an opt-out model that would allow it to scrape music, books and journalism unless a rights holder signals an objection, according to the report.
McLachlan also said datacentres must not be built at the expense of biodiversity and that sovereign AI capability should be built sustainably. The growth of datacentres in Australia is expected to increase emissions and power costs for households, prompting backlash from environmental groups and some communities.
Labor and the Coalition have largely agreed on AI-related issues, and senator David Pocock has complained about a major party stitch-up on AI regulation. Shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam and shadow cybersecurity minister Aaron Violi said in a statement that AI was too important to become an unnecessarily partisan political contest. Earlier in the week, Labor announced it would set up a new AI safety regulator and implement six key obligations on AI companies after a breach of government sites by OpenAI. Labor's AI package is expected to be unveiled before the end of the year.