Disquiet grows in Albanese’s back yard as Grayndler artists unite against ‘insane’ AI proposal

Inner west Sydney seat has long been safely held by the PM – but potential changes to copyright laws are angering its large creative community… The prime minister is facing growing discontent within his own electorate as creatives push back against the federal government’s proposal to allow AI companies to scrape everything Australians create online.

Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler in Sydney’s inner west is home to more than 3,000 cultural and creative businesses, and 10% of its workers are employed in cultural and creative fields – compared with 4.2% nationally. He has held it on a safe margin for three decades, and has spoken of its high representation of live music, theatre and artist spaces with pride.

But now, as Labor considers giving AI companies unrestricted access to Australian creatives’ works by default as it pursues a compromise with US tech giants, locals are reacting with dismay. Labor is mulling over the copyright changes in a suite of reforms surrounding AI, including datacentres, energy and the economy. While Albanese has promised “the strongest possible protection”, warning it would be…