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AI in Australian government

Government is the one sector where responsible AI is already mandatory. Non-corporate Commonwealth entities operate under a binding DTA policy with accountable officials, public transparency statements and use-case impact assessments, NSW mandates its own assessment framework, and a legal framework for automated decision-making is being developed in response to the Robodebt Royal Commission.

DTADept of FinanceAPSCAGDDigital NSW

Last reviewed August 2026. Every entry links to its official source.

The rules

What applies today

The binding whole-of-government policy for AI use in the APS. Mandatory requirements include designated accountable AI officials, public AI transparency statements, a strategic approach to AI adoption, use-case level accountability, internal AI use-case registers, staff training and risk-based AI impact assessments. Version 2.0 replaced the original September 2024 policy and significantly strengthened the requirements.

Who this affects: All non-corporate Commonwealth entities, with limited exceptions. A strong voluntary benchmark for state agencies and government suppliers.

Latest updates

What changed recently

  1. The Government established a six-member AI Review Committee providing expert advice on high-risk, sensitive, novel or complex AI use cases across the APS. Agencies remain accountable for their own AI risk management.

    DTA: new AI Review Committee

  2. The DTA published an agentic AI addendum to the government AI technical standard, with best practice for agencies deploying AI systems that plan and act autonomously, emphasising human oversight and guardrails.

    DTA: trustworthy AI agents guidance

  3. The DTA launched a central register of AI transparency statements. All 94 agencies subject to the transparency standard had met their publishing obligations, with a further 20 publishing voluntarily.

    DTA: central register of AI transparency statements

Getting ready

Compliance checklist

  • Designate accountable AI officials and assign an accountable officer to every AI use case. See the rule

  • Publish and maintain a public AI transparency statement; it now appears on the DTA's central register. See the rule

  • Maintain an internal register of all in-scope AI use cases. See the rule

  • Complete an AI impact assessment before deploying a use case, and refer residual high-risk or sensitive cases to the AI Review Committee. See the rule

  • Apply the AI technical standard, including the agentic AI addendum where relevant, and the AI procurement checklist when buying AI. See the rule

  • NSW agencies: complete the AI Assessment Framework workbook and refer high or critical-risk systems to the NSW AI Review Committee. See the rule

  • Train staff in AI fundamentals and keep human oversight over decisions that affect people, especially recruitment. See the rule

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