The issue
Updated: August 2025 — Submissions close 14 September 2025
What is happening
The Australian Government’s Productivity Commission is considering copyright reforms that could make it easier for Big Tech and AI companies to access and use Australian creative works, images, writing, music and more without permission or payment. Proposals under review include US-style “fair use” and a new text and data mining (TDM) exception that would allow large-scale scraping of copyrighted material to train AI models.
These changes would shift value away from creators and towards platforms, weakening one of the few legal protections Australian artists, writers, photographers and musicians currently rely on.
Prominent tech voices, including Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar in his role with the Tech Council, argue that broad data access is needed to attract AI investment. Supporters downplay the legal and ethical risks of unlicensed data use.
Cultural leaders, including Peter Garrett, and our own Tracey Spicer, warn that a TDM exception amounts to uncompensated use of creative work and undermines cultural sovereignty.
The Commission’s interim report suggests loosening data access could unlock up to A$116 billion in AI-related value. In real terms that means robbing the australian performing and creative arts sector of 116 billion dollar worth of original works!
Without clear licensing, transparency and enforcement, that value risks being extracted from Australian creators rather than shared with them.
Meanwhile, AI-generated imagery and audio are already widely used across fashion, advertising and media with limited safeguards. Misuse of images, likenesses and voices, including deepfakes is rising and eroding trust in culture, news and democracy.
This is our line in the sand
Australia’s creative work is not a free creative bank for Big Tech. The Productivity Commission is considering copyright changes that would let AI and platform companies access Australian images, writing, music and performances without permission or payment including a “text and data mining” exception and US-style “fair use”. If this passes, your life’s work can be scraped, copied, and used to train AI systems that replace you.
We say no.
What’s at stake
Our livelihoods- from actors, models and musicians to writers, photographers and designers.
Our identities- our faces, voices and likenesses, reused without consent.
Our culture -stories and images that define who we are, stripped of value and context.
Our democracy — deepfakes and disinformation already blur truth and trust.
Leaders across the arts and media warn that a TDM exception is uncompensated use dressed up as innovation.
Industry surveys show overwhelming support for firm rules that require licensing, consent and payment. Public polling shows Australians want stronger protections, not weaker ones. Meanwhile, the Commission’s own interim report talks up “economic value” from looser data access — value torn out of the creative economy unless creators are paid and protected.
Let’s be clear
Innovation that needs our work should ask, license, and pay.
Technology that cannot operate without taking should not be given a legal shortcut.
Our demands to Parliament and the Productivity Commission
No unlicensed text and data mining. Consent and paid licensing must be the default for any use of copyrighted material in AI.
Protect faces, voices and likeness. Treat biometric data as sacred and set real penalties for misuse.
Expose the training sets. Mandatory records of training data, traceable provenance and watermarking so the public can see what went in and what comes out.
Pay creatives fairly. Enable collective licensing so individuals, newsrooms and studios are not forced to fight alone.
Independent enforcement with teeth. Audits, penalties and the power to stop unlawful use.
Pause high-risk uses. Any AI system that cannot meet consent, transparency and safety requirements must be suspended until it can.
Add your voice now it takes five minutes
The Productivity Commission is accepting submissions until 14 September 2025. A note, a letter or a full paper, every statement counts.
Where to send
Australian Government Productivity Commission
4 National Circuit
Barton ACT 2600
Attn: Commissioners Julie Abramson and Stephen King
Email: 5pillars@pc.gov.au
Topic: Pillar 3 – Harnessing Data and Digital Technology
Online portal: https://engage.pc.gov.au/page/make-a-submission