Shadow industry and innovation minister Alex Hawke takes aim at Labor's AI policy
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The news: Shadow minister for industry and innovation Alex Hawke, has outlined the Coalition's position on AI regulation and fintech innovation, during a keynote speech at FinTech Australia's Intersekt 2025 conference, responding directly to Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres' speech on Tuesday at the National Tech Summit.
The context: The speech follows recent legislative changes including the Payments Systems Bill and comes amid ongoing debate about AI regulation in Australia.
Hawke criticised Labor's approach, particularly referring to recent comments about union involvement in AI regulation. The shadow minister highlighted the Coalition's previous initiatives including establishing the National AI Centre and developing national AI ethics principles.
Hawke outlined four key principles:
- Rejecting the "legalisation of theft" of copyrighted content;
- Avoiding a "regulatory wild west";
- Ensuring contracts remain enforceable in AI applications; and
- Protecting Australian creators while promoting competition.
The Opposition's four-point AI plan includes ending policy inconsistencies across multiple ministers, accelerating the National AI Capability Plan, establishing guardrails for high-risk AI while preserving productivity benefits, and supporting responsible business adoption through existing frameworks like the National AI Centre.
With regard to fintech innovation, he warned that regulatory delays risk capital and jobs migrating offshore, citing global competition from the United States and Europe in blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation.
He specifically criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC's) litigation-based approach to crypto regulation and called for comprehensive payments licensing reform to provide greater regulatory clarity for fintech firms.
What they said: "Allowing unions to write our AI laws is not a plan which takes seriously the enormous productivity benefits that AI stands to deliver. It's a political choice about who gets to decide the rules of the future economy, not a strategy for innovation," Hawke said.
The source: Alex Hawke speech at Intersekt
