ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – AUSTRALIA

Workplace laws reset for AI job losses: union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 11-Mar-26

The Australian Services Union has urged a "fundamental reset of workplace laws to protect workers’ time". The ASU has used its submission to an inquiry into the National Employment Standards to call for employees who lose their job due to artificial intelligence to be given at least six months’ paid notice; it contends that this would give them time to upskill, train for new roles within their organisation or look for a new job. The union has also called for the maximum working week to be set at 30.4 hours over four days, with no loss of pay.

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AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION

CBA plans to retrain workers to head off anger over job cuts

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 25-Feb-26

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will launch a new skills program that aims to retrain its staff and provide them with the AI skills and other expertise that will be needed in the future. CEO Matt Comyn says employers have an obligation to help workers to build up their AI skills, and he argues that Australian companies must embrace AI technology in order to remain internationally competitive. CBA’s focus will be on training staff in areas that will be in demand, with the aim of shifting thousands of workers into higher-value roles. Meanwhile, CBA has advised of another 300 job cuts across its banking and human resources teams, although they have not been specifically linked to AI.

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

AI leads Australian start-ups’ $5b funding boom

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Original article by Tess Bennett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 3-Feb-26

Funding for Australian technology start-ups increased by $1 billion to $5.1 billion last year, according to the State of Australian Start-up Funding report. Investments linked to artificial intelligence dominated funding, with 61 per cent going to start-ups using AI in their product offerings, while the 20 biggest deals accounted for 58 per cent of the total capital deployed. Commenting on the 2025 figures, Airtree Ventures partner James Cameron said VC sentiment was "buoyant" again after a subdued couple of years, while diversity among funded start-ups still remains a major issue; all-female founding teams received just two per cent of total capital invested in 2025

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AIRTREE VENTURES PTY LTD

CBA slashes dozens of call centre jobs, citing new AI system rollout

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Original article by James Eyers, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 29-Jul-25

The Commonwealth Bank informed the Finance Sector Union last week that it will be making 45 roles in its call centre operations redundant, following the introduction of a chatbot system last month to answer customer inquiries. It is likely to be the first of many redundancies in the CBA’s call centres as a result of AI, with the CBA saying the new system has reduced the volume of call centre calls by 2,000 a week and has allowed it to concentrate its focus on upskilling its call centre team to deal with more complex customer queries

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

AI a Trojan horse for IR rules, business warns

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 23-Jul-25

A recent survey by KPMG found that Australians have lower levels of artificial intelligence use, training and confidence than their global peers. Meanwhile, business leaders are concerned that the union movement will use the federal government’s upcoming productivity summit to argue for increased workplace regulation due to the growing adoption of AI technologies. Business Council of Australia CEO Bran Black says the business community will oppose any attempt to use to summit to further shift the balance of power in workplaces from employers to unions.

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KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

One in three jobs at serious risk in AI revolution

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 10-Dec-24

The Social Policy Group has forecast that artificial intelligence will result in ‘tectonic’ structural changes to the Australian economy and the nation’s workforce. The SPG’s report warns that these changes will be greater than any previous technical revolution. The report’s modelling suggests that in a worst-case scenario, up to 33 per cent of jobs in Australia could be impacted by AI by 2030 if there is no policy or regulatory intervention by govern­ment. The SPG has also expressed concern that Australia will fall behind other OECD economies due to the nation’s reliance on exporting raw materials and its dearth of high-value industries.

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SOCIAL POLICY GROUP

CBA trials AI to replace local call centre staff

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 17-Sep-24

The Commonwealth Bank is trialling a ChatGPT-style platform called Hey CommBank, with a view to use it to potentially replace thousands of local call centre staff. CBA chief data and analytics officer Andrew McMullan says he expects there will come a time when its customers have become so used to using ChatGPT-style services that it will become the way that they interact with the bank, while Finance Sector Union assistant secretary Nicole McPherson has labelled the CBA’s plans to replace local call centre staff with its Hey CommBank platform as "disrespectful and tricky".

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

AICD warns of dangers from AI

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 18 : 12-Jun-24

The Australia Institute of Company Directors has released a new guidebook on artificial intelligence technology. Amongst other things, it advises company directors to examine the potential benefits and key risks associated with using AI within their organisation, while they should take action to ensure that the data that is being used by their company’s AI applications is ‘fit for purpose’. The AICD’s Mark Rigotti says directors may face significant commercial, reputational and regulatory damage if they lack sufficient oversight regarding the company’ use of AI.

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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS

New IR laws ‘can’t stop AI’s impact’

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 21-May-24

The Senate is conducting an inquiry into the adoption of artificial intelligence, with the ACTU using its submisssion to claim that current laws do not adequately ensure there is "sufficient openness, trans­parency and consent to the use of AI". The ACTU stated that the Fair Work Act does not provide sufficient protection against victimisation and discrimination where a human decision-maker is concerned, leaving it totally inequipped to deal with AI-based decision-making. The Australian Services Union used its submission to ensure that generous redundancy provisions are in place when job losses cannot be avoided because of AI, while the shop assistants union voiced concerns about algorithm-led rostering used across retail and warehousing.

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ACTU, AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION

Telstra installs robot helpers across stores, call centres in push towards AI-fuelled future

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Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 20-Feb-24

Telstra has started to deploy an artificial intelligence tool called Ask Telstra to assist staff in handling customers’ complaints. Ask Telstra is powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, and is intended to be an internal search engine that will allow employees in the telco’s stores and call centres to access customers’ data quickly when they make a complaint or seek assistance. Professor Gary Mortimer from the Queensland University of Technology believes that unscripted, synthetic and natural AI voice interactions will eventually become the norm for retailers.

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TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY