CANBERRA — Australian Greens Sen. David Shoebridge is pressing the federal government to impose stronger guardrails on artificial intelligence, create a dedicated AI ministry and pause approvals for new data centers while the country develops a national policy for the technology. Shoebridge, a New South Wales senator appointed on Sept. 7 to lead the Greens’ AI policy, said Australia risked surrendering control of critical systems by allowing foreign-owned technology companies to dominate the country’s economy, government services and infrastructure. He proposed a sovereign AI capability built through a mix of public and private investment. Rather than attempting to replace every commercial platform, he said Australia should develop national computing infrastructure and a large language model through an independent statutory body with government, business and community participation. Shoebridge pointed to efforts in Europe, South Korea, Canada and France, including France’s support for the Mistral AI platform, as examples of countries seeking alternatives to dependence on U.S.-owned technology. He argued that relying on a single country or a small group of corporations leaves Australia vulnerable to political pressure, commercial coercion and disruptions beyond its control. The senator also urged international cooperation on AI safety standards, including measures to address warnings from technology insiders that uncontrolled development could pose severe risks. Australia cannot contain the technology alone, he said, but could establish strong domestic rules and work with other countries on shared protections. A central part of his proposal is a one-year moratorium on new data centers. During that period, Shoebridge said governments should establish binding national requirements for energy use, water consumption and renewable power. Communities facing proposals for hyperscale facilities deserve clear answers about local benefits, he said, particularly when projects could increase pressure on electricity prices and limited water supplies while profits flow to overseas technology companies. Shoebridge said the environmental costs were only part of the issue. If AI becomes embedded in financial services, health care, government and workplaces, he argued, Australia must ensure that control is not concentrated in foreign corporations. He also warned that AI could intensify inequality and workplace disruption. If the technology generates enormous profits for a small group of already wealthy investors, he said, governments should consider public ownership and ways to distribute the gains. The prospect of automation, he added, should prompt serious discussion about collective responses, including income support and other measures to protect workers. The Greens senator criticized the federal government’s current approach, saying responsibility for AI is spread across at least seven ministers and agencies without a clear national strategy. He said a dedicated minister would have a specialized department and an explicit mandate, rather than leaving the issue as an additional responsibility within the prime minister’s office. Shoebridge also used the discussion to criticize secrecy in federal government. He defended sharing short video clips of Senate committee testimony online, arguing that public servants should be accountable to the public and that digital excerpts can provide more context than brief quotations in traditional news coverage. He called the use of disappearing messages by politicians, ministerial staff and public servants a breach of federal record-keeping duties. Shoebridge said informal agreements between major parties not to seek some messaging records undermine transparency and create a culture in which accountability is treated as optional. Beyond AI, Shoebridge argued for a more independent Australian foreign and defense policy. He rejected the view that Australia must operate under the protection of a major power and cited Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as regional examples of countries pursuing relationships without aligning completely with either the United States or China. He said Australia should engage more broadly with the region according to its own values and interests, rather than being seen as an extension of U.S. policy. That broader argument, he said, is connected to AI: national sovereignty requires control over the technologies increasingly shaping public institutions, the economy and daily life.