Coalition senators and the recording industry warn that altering copyright law to permit AI companies to scrape copyrighted material could trigger a constitutional breach, potentially exposing Australia to massive international compensation claims. The concern centers on whether such an action constitutes the government acquiring property "on just terms," a legal point comparable to the dispute in the movie The Castle. Ross Cadell, a Nationals senator, stated that the nation "could be liable for ‘just terms’ compensation for acquiring that property for every rights holder on Earth." Michaelia Cash, the shadow attorney general, advised that the government should not "sell out Australian creators and rights holders in the rush to entice AI investment." Anne Twomey, professor emerita of law at the University of Sydney, noted that while the issue is complex, granting a new right to AI companies and diminishing copyright holders' rights could "potentially" trigger constitutional issues, adding that "One would want to be quite confident before enacting the legislation about whether or not section 51 would apply." The attorney general’s department, through spokesperson Michelle Rowland, pledged that "any future copyright changes deliver meaningful control and fair compensation." Labor is considering copyright changes as part of a broader suite of reforms concerning AI, datacentres, online safety, workforce, and the economy. Some AI companies have indicated that making licensing agreements under existing copyright law is too difficult; Anthropic suggested an "opt-out" model, which would permit scraping unless a rights holder deployed digital protections signaling objection. Pete Strong, a screenprinter and Greens councillor for Bayside, criticized the proposal, stating, "There’s obviously an AI gold rush at the moment, it’s the wild west and we really need to push back."
Labor's consideration of these reforms follows leaked discussions where senior personnel from OpenAI met with Labor ministers, warning that Australia’s copyright laws were preventing the company from training models locally. Lu Campbell-Smith, an inner west designer and artist, described the requirement to opt out as "outrageous," questioning the incentive for creators to post content online if it becomes free content for an AI machine. The federal government’s draft laws are expected by the end of the year, with consideration in parliament anticipated in 2027.
