Ryan wants AI breach reporting laws this year
Independent Kooyong MP Monique Ryan has urged the Albanese government to tighten AI safeguards after an agent accessed Services Australia’s Medicare Statistics Reporting Service in June.
The government learned of the access nearly three months later, when the company emailed a generic government inbox, Ryan said. That left Australia relying on the company’s account of what happened.
“Australians trust Medicare with their most sensitive personal information. That trust must be protected,” Ryan said.
Ryan described the intrusion as a wake-up call and criticised the fact that Australian authorities did not detect it themselves. The full extent of the intrusion also remains unclear, she said.
According to Ryan, Australia has been too passive about AI risk and regulation, leaving personal data and privacy exposed. Her criticism centres on the use of AI systems in high-risk settings such as Medicare.
Funding call after 17 September clash
On 17 September, Ryan and crossbench colleague Kate Chaney called for the AI Safety Institute’s funding to rise from about $8 million a year to $100 million a year.
Ryan said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected that proposal in Question Time on 17 September, despite the government having known about the breach for a week by then.
The Kooyong MP argued that the AI Safety Institute is under-resourced. She said it has fewer staff members than a suburban supermarket.
“We must move much faster to regulate AI. The government hasn’t yet presented draft legislation for a National AI Safety Act, and its draft standards barely mention requiring AI companies to disclose breaches,” Ryan said.
Before the end of the parliamentary year, Ryan wants the government to release the timeline and findings of the Australian Signals Directorate investigation into the breach.
Her demands also include an immediate increase in AI Safety Institute funding, mandatory breach reporting rules for AI companies, penalties for companies that fail to report breaches, legal liability for harm caused by AI agents, and earlier AI safety laws for high-risk settings.
Ryan said international AI companies face no accountability when Australian systems are affected unless the law changes more quickly.
