Canberra’s AI blindspot opens up

Congratulations! You made it to the end of the first week of Canberra Playbook! OK, we’re projecting a little, but we’re also extremely pleased to have received all your positive feedback, tips and requests. — Ryan, Finn and Miriam ESSENTIALS Federal Libs debate taking over South Australia branch Word of the day: Epizootic Australia is taking sporting diplomacy to new levels Exclusive: New AI polling shows government can still shape data center opinion DRIVING THE DAY EPIZOOTIC, aka BIRD MASSACRES: That’s a word we might all be learning soon. Use it in a sentence: Australia has an H5 bird-flu epizootic among wild birds. We’re now beyond an individual penguin or crested tern keeling over: Hundreds of birds are dying, in multiple locations. There are mounting issues around their disposal. While there’s no need for panic poultry buying, there’s also no room for complacency (a great reminder that Australia has shallow resilience planning and literacy, despite public service efforts). Overseas experience shows that H5 viruses can cause severe losses once they enter dense poultry populations. For humans that would first mean egg shortages rather than health risks, but that’s also one step away from a food inflation problem. What Australians can learn from overseas, via Bethany Hoye for The Conversation. ANYTHING MALI CAN DO, CANBERRA CAN DO (ISH): Not to be outdone by Adelaide’s Royal Commission into artificial intelligence impacts, Federal Parliament will do a wide-ranging review of AI after members voted to establish a joint select committee Thursday, with a report due Nov. 30. Who’s on the committee? It’s likely to be one of outgoing Liberal Sen. Jonno Duniam’s final orders of business before quitting Parliament. He’ll be joined by Coalition colleagues Andrew Hastie, Aaron Violi and Ross Cadell. On the Labor side: Tony Sheldon, Tim Watts, Jo Briskey, Zaneta Mascarenhas, Marielle Smith and Josh Dolega. The Lower House crossbencher is Kate Chaney. A ballot to decide the independent senator won’t occur until the next sitting period. Familiar ring? Parliament ran a similar committee on AI adoption in 2024. ANYTHING ANTIC CAN DO, FED LIBS CAN TAKE OVER: The federal Liberal executive committee will today discuss taking over its South Australian branch, Paul Sakkal reports. That’s a big deal for the famously federated and autonomous Libs. It’s driven by fears that rogue Sen. Alex Antic is driving the party into electoral oblivion via his efforts to not only take over party apparatus but expel party legends and promote anti-abortion and anti-vaccine views. BY THE NUMBERS EXCLUSIVE — AI BLINDSPOT = DATA CENTER OPPORTUNITY: A new survey conducted by JWS Research suggests nearly a fifth of Australians have never heard of data centers. But the figure isn’t a failure for the prime minister, who recently announced the government would develop national standards for large data centers. Instead, it may be an opportunity. “There is a first-mover opportunity — for government, industry or a campaign — to define data centers before someone else does, because a fifth of the electorate hasn’t yet formed a view to defend,” JWS Strategy and Insights Manager Tom Cameron said. The public backlash against data centers seen in the U.S. is not registering yet in Australia, the polling found, with fewer than 1 percent of respondents naming data centers when asked to asked to spontaneously identify what the Australian government should be focused on. However, when asked specifically about their concerns around data centers, only 3 percent of those surveyed said they had none. Read the full story here. THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW GORDON DE BROUWER – “I’M QUITE USED TO CONFLICT NOW” The new Australian National University Chancellor, formerly Australian Public Service commissioner, sat down to talk to Miriam in the institution’s University House on his second day in the job. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. You were