A ustralia’s major political parties are edging towards rare consensus. Labor and the Coalition increasingly want to take a major bet on artificial intelligence. Yet, just as the parties are coming together, the Australian community is running the other way.

Last year, only 30% of Australians believed the benefits of AI outweighed the risks. In 2026, community trust in AI appears to be falling even further.

It was an unusual step for our parliament to form a joint select committee on AI. It signalled that the decisions being made now on datacentres and how we adopt AI could define our economy, environment and society for generations.

As a fresh round of hearings starts this week, the committee members must confront the gulf between the politics of AI and the stark reality on the ground.…