Taiwan · China · U.S. · Anthropic · The Guardian Technology
Andrew Hastie compares AI to cold-war nuclear arms race and cautions Australia may fall
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Liberal MP Andrew Hastie says Australia should dramatically scale up investment in artificial intelligence to preserve strategic independence and warns the country risks being “a supplicant state” tethered to the US in an era of possible hot conflict with China.
Key facts
- On Monday, a Resolve poll published in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald put the Coalition’s primary vote on a record low 20%, behind Labor on 28% and One Nation on 29%
- Former industry minister Ed Husic had argued for new guardrails and consideration of a major new AI act, but he was dumped from cabinet in 2025
- Outlining the stakes of a growing arms race between the US and major AI companies including Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI, Hastie said “techbros” in Silicon Valley had strong influence
- Hastie used the speech hosted by colleague Julian Leeser to warn a backslide in educational standards over the past 25 years was leaving school students, including those from disadvantaged families
Summary
In a major address to Liberal members in Sydney on Monday night, the shadow minister for industry and sovereign capability likened the development of AI to the nuclear arms race of the cold-war era and proposed Australia position itself as a technology hub in the southern hemisphere. Delivering the annual Tom Hughes Oration, Hastie called for a new AI ambassador to be appointed and said the education system should be overhauled “so we can unleash Australian hearts and minds on AI”. He said prime ministers, including Robert Menzies and John Gorton, had wrestled with the question of Australia pursuing nuclear capability, but ultimately aligned their security settings with Washington.