Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

Thank you very much for the introduction, and I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet this morning, the Ngunnawal people.

I pay my respects to elders past and present, and also acknowledge any First Nations people joining us here this morning and online.

Thank you to the Public Sector Network and the DTA for putting on the Government Innovation Week event and for allowing me to speak.

I also want to publicly thank the Assistant Minister, Patrick Gorman. He's my Assistant Minister in the Public Service, and it's really great to be able to work with somebody who cares so deeply about public service, its people, and its purpose.

Thanks to everyone who's come to listen today.

It's a big room. It's not very intimate, is it? I'll do my best to connect with you, but I appreciate you coming, and I know that there's a lot of people who have registered online.

I'd like to acknowledge Victor Dominello, who's come today. He's a huge contributor and adviser to me, and he's always ready to roll up his sleeves and offer to help, and I appreciate him being here today.

Also, to all of the public service leaders in the room and joining online.

Special shout out to Finance, Services Australia, the Office for women, the DTA, and the APSC. These are the departments, agencies, and public servants I work most closely with, and who teach me something new every day and who always inspire me with their dedication to public service. And to have helped enormously on the AI Plan that I am releasing today.

As Minister for the Public Service, this is my fourth annual address on the public service.

It's something that I always look forward to, as it gives me the opportunity to talk about the public service and why our APS Reform agenda is so important, and why it remains a priority for the Albanese Government.

This year, we went through an election campaign – in case you hadn't noticed – where the public service was more central to the opposing party's campaign than it perhaps has been in the past.

For those of us from Canberra, we are used to the lazy Canberra bashing that always emerges in election years.

But this year, there was more on the line. Whether it be working from home policy or resourcing the APS properly to do the job it needs to do. The election battle lines in the sand were very clear.

And, as it happened, the election result was clear too.

It turns out that people do care about the services that the Australian Government provides, and they care about when and how those services are delivered.

This address today is similar to the previous remarks I've given, in that it does focus on APS reform in a second-term Albanese Government. But it's different in that I want to focus on one area specifically.

AI Plan for the Australian Public Service

Today I want to talk about artificial intelligence – AI, or more specifically, generative AI – and how we intend to drive the safe and responsible use of AI across the APS.

We all know that generative AI has well and truly hit the mainstream. The technology is rapidly developing at pace, and in some ways it's incredibly hard to keep up with.

We know that it's driving change across the economy, and businesses, governments and individuals are working out how to grab the best and stave off the worst that this technology offers.

From boardrooms to shop floors, from schools to hospitals, generative AI is transforming how businesses operate and how Australians live and work.

Today, the government is releasing the AI Plan for the Australian Public Service.

This plan is designed to guide and coordinate the safe and responsible adoption of AI across the public service. This is the first plan, but it won't be the last. The days of ten-year strategic planning, a ‘set and forget’ of policy development, are well and truly over.

This plan will have to be regularly updated so it remains current and relevant.

But this first plan is important as it sends a very strong signal from government that we want to see the safe and responsible adoption of AI be widely taken up across government, in every department and every workplace.

This plan will not replace individual agencies’ approaches to enterprise AI adoption that is specific to their area of responsibility.

This plan is about coordinating and driving standard APS-wide AI adoption.

The government wants every public servant to have the confidence and the tools to embrace this technology and use it to assist them in their work.

Because if we're serious about building a public service that is efficient, capable, and responsive to the needs of Australians, then we must be in a position to take hold of the opportunities that AI presents.

As the Minister responsible for the Public Service, Women, Government Services, Finance, and the Government's data and digital capabilities, this presents a great opportunity to bring these portfolios together to lead the transformation across the APS.

The development and implementation of the AI plan forms part of our APS Reform Agenda, and if we get this right, it will be one of the most important ways we continue to build a public service that is the best that it can be for the people it's here to serve.

By embracing AI in a planned and coordinated way, it will allow us to unlock the full potential that AI offers for the public service, for our systems, for our services, and in the way we deliver for the people who rely upon us.

Now, AI has been part of public sector work since at least 1986, with CSIRO and Parks Australia leading the way with fire management systems in Kakadu.

But when it comes to generative AI – the kind of technology behind apps like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, it's much newer to the APS workplace.

However, the past few years have seen a rapid increase in availability of generative AI.

In the past year alone, nearly half of all Australians have used generative AI in their work or personal lives.

Governments around the world are recognising AI not just as a technical upgrade, but as a transformative tool that can reshape how public services are delivered.

In Finland, the government is using AI-driven data models to understand how people interact with public services, helping policymakers evaluate and improve social policies with real world evidence rather than assumptions.

And in the UK, the NHS is trialling AI tools to triage patients more efficiently, to optimise hospital workflows and support clinicians in diagnostics.

And here in Australia, we've been thinking carefully about how we deal with the huge potential of AI, but also the risks associated with widespread adoption of AI across the Public Service.

What are the best use cases for general application of generative AI?

How can we support the uptake and adoption across government when agencies are already so busy delivering the services and programs the Government asks them to do?

Could AI automatically reunite Australians with lost super or unclaimed Medicare benefits?

Could it anticipate life's big moments like having a child, changing jobs, or caring for loved ones and connect people instantly with what they're eligible for?

Could it detect fraud, scams, and organised crimes by identifying patterns across huge government data systems that no human team could see?

Now, having spent the last few months in a very, very deep dive on AI use in governments, I am very confident in predicting there isn't one area of government that won't be touched, impacted, or reformed in some way by the adoption of AI.

If that's the case – and I'm pretty certain it will be – the responsibility falls to all of us to guide and shape how that happens.

The plan we release today isn't the start of that work. We've already delivered a number of things: the technical standard for government's use of AI, guidance on the use of official information in public generative AI tools, we've sponsored GovHack 2025, AI in government fundamentals eLearning, the AI government showcase of AI use cases with industry and academia, GovAI applied eLearning, the APS Academy master class, webinars for new users.

There's a whole range of things that have been developing as we've been putting this plan together.

Now, as I've spoken to people across the Public Service, and as I have read about how governments around the world are dealing with AI internally, and as I talk to big private sector employers across Australia, there are similar thing themes that emerge which must be addressed if we're to get this right.

Firstly, how do you make sure that AI is adopted in a way that drives trust for both public servants and the Australian people.

Secondly, how do you build capability across an organisation as diverse as the APS that does everything from managing national parks in the Northern Territory, to science in Antarctica, and everything you can possibly imagine in between.

And thirdly, what is the best way to make sure public servants have access to AI to assist them with their work.

It's for these reasons that the AI APS Plan is deliberately structured around three mutually reinforcing pillars: trust, people, and tools.

Trust

If I begin with trust, because trust, both from public servants and from the broader public, is our license to operate. Without trust, we can't do anything.

Under the Plan, we will make sure there's a centrally provided policy and guidance to provide clarity, accountability, transparency, risk identification and management, and update all these central policies as required.

We will establish an AI Review Committee to enhance whole-of-government oversight and ensure consistent and responsible deployment of AI across the APS.

Once fully operational, this Committee will review all high-risk use cases across the APS.

In procurement, we'll make sure that agencies are equipped to assess risks and manage compliance through the procurement lifecycle and meet their policy obligations under the Procurement Rules and policies for the Responsible Use of AI in Government.

And in communications, to drive consistency and transparency across government, including recording applicable use cases on an internal register for transparency and oversight.

The Government wants public servants to have confidence to engage with AI safely and responsibly, knowing that there are clear guardrails in place and that public service leadership is actively supporting its use and uptake.

Trusting governance structures matters, because we know what happens when proper oversight and leadership fail.

Now, Robodebt wasn't about AI, but it's often the first thing that comes to mind, or in fact, is raised with me when people hear about adoption of new technology in government.

It's important to remember that Robodebt, and all the harm that was caused by that program, wasn't due to a failure of technology.

It was a result of a failure of leadership, ethical decision-making, and proper oversight.

That's why the APS AI Plan prioritises centralised governance and building trust from the outset.

It includes clear lines of accountability, transparent reporting, and safeguards to ensure human oversight is always present.

We know that unlocking the potential of the AI transformation era will only succeed if it is grounded in integrity and shaped by the ethical judgment of public servants across the country.

People

The second pillar is about people.

Public servants must be equipped with the right skills to use AI responsibly and effectively, and we have to have the right leadership and structures in place to drive cultural change and coordinated effort across the APS.

The plan will provide foundational learning.

All agencies will be required to implement mandatory training for all staff on the responsible use of AI.

We must build communities of practice and make available training, including at the senior leadership level, to lead this service-wide change.

Every agency will have to appoint an SES level Chief AI Officer by July next year, whose role will be to drive adoption, champion strategic change within their agencies, and work alongside existing AI accountable officials to ensure compliance and coordination.

We will also establish a central AI team in Finance called the AI Delivery and Enablement Team, or AIDE as it will be known, a multidisciplinary expert group helping guide agencies to overcome barriers, share lessons, and accelerate adoption.

Alongside the Chief AI Officers and the AIDE team, there is an expectation that all senior leaders will be AI literate and lead by example in using AI to demonstrate capabilities and to drive uptake across teams.

In consultation in developing this plan, we've drawn on insights from the CPSU’s report on AI in the APS that was informed by more than 2,000 public servants.

As agencies increase their use of AI, there is an expectation that proper consultation with staff, including the union, is a priority.

The APSC will issue a circular setting out these standards after appropriate consultation is completed.

Now, we know that public servants will have loads of questions about this, especially about what AI means for their roles and day to day work, and they should ask those questions.

But I want to say very clearly that the Government does not view widespread AI adoption across the APS as a way of replacing people.

We see it much more through the lens of unlocking new capabilities, improving work processes and flows, looking to improve our performance when delivering services, and ensuring that public servants are focused on work that requires human insight, empathy and judgment.

And like any major transformation that has happened across the APS since we came to government, how AI is adopted across the APS will be shaped by consultation with staff at the centre of the reform.

Tools

Finally, the third pillar, tools. I hope you're all still with me.

To realise the potential of AI across the APS, we need to make sure that every public servant has access to the right tools that are secure, supported, and fit for purpose.

So, we will be making generative AI available to everyone, whether you're a grad or SES, working in ICT, or indeed, in a contact centre.

The goal is for every public servant to have access to secure, supportive generative AI directly from their desktop or laptop through the GovAI platform, and through the staged development of GovAI Chat.

This is an incredibly important part of the plan.

In a phased way, and with a trial, we will deliver a purpose-built GovAI chat tool.

This will mean we will have a government-based platform that avoids vendor lock-in and allows us to adopt emerging technologies and solutions that are fit for purpose, for the APS.

We think there are plenty of Australian businesses that might help us with this task.

We will also provide guidance on the use of public generative AI tools, to give public servants the confidence to use platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini with information up to the Official level.

This guidance is already available on digital.gov.au, and gives agencies clarity and confidence about what's appropriate and where the guardrails sit for the use of public AI tools.

When it comes to reusing tools, to support the smarter use of our resources, we're building systems that allow agencies to share intellectual property and AI solutions, so that we don't duplicate effort and instead make it easier to reuse what's already working across the APS.

And we'll also provide support for AI tool procurement, with guidance on AI procurement in government by the end of this year, with model contracts and model contract clauses, to make it easier for agencies to access trusted AI products and services, in line with government standards.

The Future of the APS

Now, over the past year, I've had the chance to learn from major employers like the Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, Google, Seek, and Telstra about the adoption of AI in their business.

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.

Initiatives like AI CoLab, GovHack, and the AI Government Showcase have demonstrated the appetite for collaboration and sharing between the public and private sector.

I really want to place on the record my thanks and appreciation for all the time and the insights that these companies have shared with me.

It's been incredibly generous and very useful in helping shape our thinking across government, and I recognise that all of them have an interest in seeing the Federal Government embark on this reform carefully, but successfully.

Now, the Australian Public Service has always had to evolve to meet the expectations of the Government of the day, and of the broader Australian community.

You only have to go back a few decades to see the change in delivery and in policy capability that has developed over that time.

The arrival of computers in the 1970s and 80s, transforming how work was done across departments.

The introduction of email and the internet in the 1990s, which reshaped communication and information sharing.

During COVID, we saw the APS pivot rapidly to online delivery, showing how adaptable, responsive and innovative the Public Service can be.

Each wave of technology has changed how the Public Service works, and each time, public servants have responded with purpose, professionalism, and an overriding commitment to serving the Australian public.

Well now, we're standing at the start of another transformation, and it is an exciting one.

This plan isn't about chasing the latest technology for its own sake.

It's about using every tool available to enhance the way we serve our community and how we improve outcomes delivered to the Australian people.

It's about making sure public servants are supported with the right resources, the right training, the right advice, and the right safeguards.

It's about ensuring that as the world changes, government services not only keep pace, but look to lead.

The APS AI Plan is the next step, but it won't be the last.

One of the truly great things about the Australian Public Service is that it is always changing, always adapting, and always enduring.

As the Minister responsible for the Public Service for just a window in time, and for an institution that will outlive all of us in this room, the successful adoption and uptake of AI is an important part of ensuring that the APS remains strong, independent, capable and trusted now and into the future.

And I look forward to working with all of you as we play our small part in setting the APS up for generations to come.

Thank you very much.