Topics: Albanese’s speech on AI, Vic Liberals, Islamophobia envoy, US-Iran War
E&OE.......................
JAIMEE ROGERS: Joining me now is Liberal Senator Dave Sharma. Senator, it is great to see you. Let's start with the Prime Minister, where he did give this speech around AI. How do you feel about Australia's approach to the technology? Do you think that we should be more focused on the productivity aspects of it?
DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I'd say two things about his speech. Firstly, I think he's confusing data centres with actually using artificial intelligence. Now, the two questions are related, but they are separate. Whether Australia hosts data centres or not and how many is a separate question to do we allow our economy and our workforce and our businesses to adopt and utilise artificial intelligence. And I think that second question is the more important one because, you know, the Prime Minister is a very union-friendly Prime Minister. The ALP has their national conference this week. The unions are already are fighting over themselves to try and write rules in that will effectively give unions and other organized labor groups a veto over this use of this technology. That would be incredibly harmful to Australia if businesses aren't allowed to adopt, use, and iterate on artificial intelligence. That will mean that we miss out on the immense economic opportunities of this technology. And that's regardless of whether or not we host data centres or how many we host. That's the most important question facing us.
JAIMEE ROGERS: And what is it that the Coalition would like to see when it comes to AI policy? And do you have a timeline of when you guys will be rolling out yours?
DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I think we want to see a forward-leaning, bold, ambitious policy that recognizes that this technology will be used and adopted all around the world and that acknowledges that if Australia doesn't take a position itself, we risk getting left behind. Now, Australia historically has been a great adopter, early adopter of new technologies, you know, whether it's electronic banking, mobile phones, Wi-Fi, the internet, any number of things. And often the benefits, the economic benefits, the productivity benefits take some time to emerge when a business adopts a new technology because you often need to re-engineer business processes and workforce allocation and how you produce whatever it is you're producing around this new technology. So Australia needs to be in early in utilising this new technology, which means we shouldn't have trade unions having a veto over whether workforces use the new technology or not. We shouldn't be buying into scare campaigns that it's going to cost Australians jobs. The historical experience of any new technology is it changes the structure of the workforce, but it doesn't lead to mass unemployment or mass jobs. And I don't think this technology will be any different. And I think we need to be bold in recognising that Australia's productivity is flatlining, and we need to kickstart it again. And AI is the most promising technology out there to do that.
JAIMEE ROGERS: Yeah, we definitely need to be looking at the productivity aspect of it. Um, Senator, I do want to get your thoughts around Friday's news where the Victorian Liberal Party disendorsed Moira Deeming. Now, federal President Tony Abbott has come out today and just said her refusal to apologize for making unsubstantiated assault allegations was unbecoming of an MP. What was your reaction when you heard the news?
DAVE SHARMA: Look, I think she has been given plenty of opportunities to put her own personal interests to one side and focus on, you know, there's a state election in Victoria in a couple of months' time. The Liberals are in a competitive position. This is an unnecessary distraction and it doesn't seem to be supported by any evidence. I think it's quite clear from the video footage that she made a false allegation. The request of her was quite simple, which was to apologize. She seems unable or unwilling to do so. And I think, the circus, frankly, that's accompanied this has been a massive distraction which the Liberals in Victoria do not need right now when they're in the competitive position that they're in.
JAIMEE ROGERS: The federal government has responded to the special envoy into Islamophobia. Now, part of those recommendations is to establish an education task force. Now, this is to tackle Islamophobia, but more so to provide training for politicians and public servants. There was obviously a lot of other elements within this, but what do you make of a decision like that?
DAVE SHARMA: Look, I do want to examine it a little more closely. You know, of course we should be stamping out Islamophobia and any other forms of racial intolerance, but my sense is that what we need to be focusing on for all these sorts of hate crimes, whether it's antisemitism or Islamophobia, is law enforcement. We have had far too many people being arrested or charged or prosecuted for the wave of antisemitism that has accompanied us the last two years and some of the anti-Islamophobic attacks as well. I think that's— I think most people in Australian society and certainly in the public service and the political class know that it's wrong to discriminate against people on the basis of their faith or ethnicity or their religion. I don't think education is lacking here. I think it's been law enforcement and creating a sense of deterrence. And I think certainly with antisemitism, that has been the missing piece over the last 2 and a half years.
JAIMEE ROGERS: And Senator, just quickly before I let you go, the news overnight that 2 American troops were killed in an Iranian strike in Jordan. What was your reaction to this and the resumption of the war?
DAVE SHARMA: Look, I think obviously the resumption of the war is unfortunate, but Iran seemed to be unable unwilling to abide by the terms of the ceasefire, which was to allow the free passage of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Now, I think it's intolerable that any nation could hold an international waterway hostage. But Iran, when it found ships were transiting not through their preferred route but through the route that comes closer to Oman, started to attack those ships. And that, to me, that's a clear violation of the ceasefire. And until such time as they are willing to abide by that basic test, I don't see that a ceasefire can be at all viable. So I think the resumption of hostilities is unfortunate, but the situation where Iran is basically able to exert a stranglehold over commercial shipping over a region like that is intolerable.
JAIMEE ROGERS: It's definitely something we'll be keeping a very close eye on. Senator Dave Sharma, thank you so much for coming on tonight.
[ENDS]