The Department of Finance will pick candidates from within ranks of the Australian Public Service for its new government AI review committee due to be established mid-next year.
The department told iTnews that the Digital Transformation Agency is currently preparing terms of reference for the committee and that it would provide more information about the oversight body’s make-up at launch early next year.
Responding to a series of questions about the selection process for the committee and the kinds of competencies and backgrounds that it was aiming to recruit, a spokesperson for Katy Gallagher’s office said that members will come from the APS.
“Further information will be announced when the committee is launched in early 2026,” the spokesperson said.
Gallagher announced the government’s intention to establish the AI oversight committee last week at the launch of its ambitious whole-of-government AI plan.
At the launch, Gallagher made a pledged that, under the plan, the government would ensure that every “public servant” would have secure access to generative AI from their laptop.
She also said that every department and agency would be required to appoint a senior executive level chief AI officer by July next year.
The committee’s role, she said, is to “enhance whole-of-government oversight and ensure consistent and responsible deployment of AI across the APS”.
In particular, the committee will be tasked with reviewing applications of the technology deemed high-risk.
Successive federal governments have a long-established history of drawing on the private sector for knowledge and experience for digital policy, particularly for cyber security and telecommunications.
In her speech at the launch of the plan Gallagher said she had spoken to businesses including the Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, Google, Seek, and Telstra about the ways that they were adopting AI to inform the way government might go about it.
“These companies have been very generous with their time and insights, and these conversations have helped me enormously to understand how we try to manage and guide the uptake of AI across a huge employment base like the APS,” she said.
However, when it comes to the APS, it seems that is as far as their participation will be needed.
She also noted work done on government procurement practices around AI, in part referring to the Department of Home Affairs’ efforts to shore up government procurement security policy and frameworks in preparation for AI-driven technology transformations.
Home Affairs was busy briefing AI suppliers last week. Over 80 suppliers of them turned up to a town hall it hosted to discuss two of its recent Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) direction and the government’s AI Policy Advisory, a department spokesperson told iTnews.
It’s understood that the group included representatives from the likes of Google, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and others currently certified under its Hosting Certification Framework to supply generative AI technologies.
Finance’s whole-of-government AI plan is part of a wider APS reform which entered its third year in March.
The APS Reform Agenda is another initiative of Gallagher’s, having announced it in October 2022 in her former role as Minister for the Public Service.
The reform’s agenda is informed by the findings of the government’s independent review of the public service led by former Telstra chief David Thodey.
Among some of it most salient findings of the APS, the Thodey review found that 58 percent agencies believed that they lacked digital skills required to match private-sector businesses for service delivery levels.
Furthermore, the review found that only 56 percent of Australians were satisfied with services they receive from Australia’s government, which was “well below levels for leading governments and private-sector businesses”.
One of the strongest themes to emerge from the Thodey review was an emphasis on increased partnership between the APS and outside influences, including increased recruitment from outside its ranks to broaden “experiences and perspectives”.
“The APS will look out, not in. It will understand the needs of the Australian people better and will partner with others to achieve outcomes. It will be confident and open in what it brings to the table but humble in learning from others; it will not assume it has all the answers,” the review recommended.
The AI oversight committee is expected to be fully operational by late 2026 and reach full maturity early 2027.