Australia's AI inquiry closes submissions on 14 September

A joint parliamentary committee is taking evidence on how AI should be governed in Australia, including how businesses actually use it. Submissions close on Monday.

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence was appointed on 20 August and is taking written submissions until 14 September. It is examining the economic, legal, security and social dimensions of AI, and it reports by 30 November.

That timing matters more than it sounds. Australia still has no AI Act. Government has worked through existing law and voluntary guidance, and mandatory Australian AI standards are expected in 2027 legislation. This committee sits in that gap, which makes its report one of the inputs to whatever comes next.

Most of what an inquiry like this hears comes from law firms, universities and large enterprises. Very little comes from a 60-person business that wired a chatbot into its quoting process and found out where it breaks. If you want rules a business your size can actually comply with, that account is the useful one.

A submission does not need to read like a legal document. A page on what you use AI for, what you refuse to use it for, and where it has cost you time or money is worth more than a general opinion. Even if you write nothing, spend an hour listing your AI use cases and who signs off on each. You will want that list when standards land, and it is easier to build now than to reconstruct later.

Submissions close on Monday 14 September. The committee reports on 30 November.