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Australia politics live: Pocock quizzes Anthropic boss on water use ahead of Australia launch | Australia news
Anthropic promises to match US commitments on power, water use
Josh Taylor
After Anthropic said this week it was establishing a Sydney office, and was looking towards local infrastructure in Australia, independent senator David Pocock asked Anthropic’s head of safeguards, Evan Frondorf, about Guardian reporting on expected AI water demand in Australia to be projected to be the equivalent of the ACT’s drinking water supply.
He asked Frondorf what Anthropic was doing to make sure there wasn’t a spike in emissions, water use and electricity costs with its data centres.
Frondorf said in the US, Anthropic has committed to cover the full costs of grid upgrades and bring net new power generation to meet its demand, reduce the draw of power at peak times and deploy water-efficient cooling. He said the company would expect to adopt a similar approach in other markets.
At the end of the hearing, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts said One Nation had “phenomenal growth, staggering growth, and we get so many compliments for our work” and complained the ABC “which is notorious for propaganda” was saying the party’s popularity was due to “Vietnamese bots”.
He was referring to an ABC report that examined a trove of foreign-owned Facebook accounts that were promoting One Nation using deepfake AI images.
“Is AI often blame for things that are quite natural and truthful?” Roberts asked.
Frondorf:
I’m not familiar with this particular situation and so can’t speak to that. But I would say we take seriously our responsibility to make the benefits of AI and maximise the benefits of AI for the world.
Key events
Barnaby Joyce said he still plans to run for a Senate seat, but plans could change
Joyce said he still plans to go after a seat in the Senate, but those conversations could change depending on what the party, or the country, needs. He told Sky News:
If I’m in a party, if circumstances change as we get closer, where the party determines that what we need is to have a crack at a lower house seat, I suppose that’s what I’ll try.
You try to do what’s best, obviously, for your electorate. But you do what’s best for the nation as well.
If you’ve gotta change course for the betterment of your nation, then you’re highly selfish if you don’t.
Joyce says he thinks One Nation will regularly be on the ‘same page’ as Matt Canavan
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said he thinks he will regularly be on the same page with newly minted Nationals leader Matt Canavan, saying the pair have many similarities when it comes to policy.
Joyce told Sky News this morning:
I wish Matt Canavan … all the best. I think it’s incredibly important for the nation that you play the game on the balls of your toes … I’ve got nothing bad to say about them.
At times, I believe strongly, that Matt, myself, Pauline and One Nation will all be strongly on the same page. It’s just that the Coalition won’t be.
Anthropic promises to match US commitments on power, water use
Josh Taylor
After Anthropic said this week it was establishing a Sydney office, and was looking towards local infrastructure in Australia, independent senator David Pocock asked Anthropic’s head of safeguards, Evan Frondorf, about Guardian reporting on expected AI water demand in Australia to be projected to be the equivalent of the ACT’s drinking water supply.
He asked Frondorf what Anthropic was doing to make sure there wasn’t a spike in emissions, water use and electricity costs with its data centres.
Frondorf said in the US, Anthropic has committed to cover the full costs of grid upgrades and bring net new power generation to meet its demand, reduce the draw of power at peak times and deploy water-efficient cooling. He said the company would expect to adopt a similar approach in other markets.
At the end of the hearing, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts said One Nation had “phenomenal growth, staggering growth, and we get so many compliments for our work” and complained the ABC “which is notorious for propaganda” was saying the party’s popularity was due to “Vietnamese bots”.
He was referring to an ABC report that examined a trove of foreign-owned Facebook accounts that were promoting One Nation using deepfake AI images.
“Is AI often blame for things that are quite natural and truthful?” Roberts asked.
Frondorf:
I’m not familiar with this particular situation and so can’t speak to that. But I would say we take seriously our responsibility to make the benefits of AI and maximise the benefits of AI for the world.
Josh Taylor
Anthropic says it’s aware of risk chatbot could be used to automate influence campaigns
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, told a Senate inquiry on climate misinformation that its risk for the AI chatbot to generate misinformation was lower than those that offer image or video generation, but the company was alert to the risk Claude could be used to automate influence operations online.
Anthropic’s head of safeguards, Evan Frondorf, told senators that Anthropic took a “layered approach” to tackling misinformation with training guardrails and monitoring of potential malicious use.
He said:
We train Claude to be factually accurate and honest about the limits of its knowledge, but also to engage with a wide variety of perspectives and provide balanced commentary on political topics. Our usage policy explicitly prohibits Claude to create or spread misleading and deceptive content, and once our models are deployed, we run automated detection systems and staff a dedicated threat intelligence team that investigates coordinated misuse and includes influence operations that we’ve detected, disrupted, and reported on publicly.
Frondorf said Anthropic reported in March 2025 that it had detected Claude being used for a coordinated social media campaign:
This was less even about the generation of the content itself, but a really novel attack where our systems or Claude was misused to dictate posting schedules to dictate who needs a to interact with and that sort of activity is, is a concern, and is a focus for our team. And when we detected that, we shut that campaign down and it influenced, you know, our monitoring capabilities going forward, to, to detect that activity earlier.
On climate change misinformation, Frondorf said Claude is trained on decades of scientific research, and is trained not to be swayed by just one new piece of information it might be given on a topic.
Tom McIlroy
Animal advocates call for speedy re-entry amid Iran war
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has urged the federal government to relax some quarantine regulations for animals caught up in the Middle East war.
As Australian citizens and permanent residents rush home from Gulf states, the group has written to the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, asking for family pets to be allowed into the country with their owners.
“Animals don’t start wars, yet they are often the victims of them,” spokesperson Mimi Bekhechi said.
Separating animal companions from their guardians will only result in more heartbreak and unnecessarily lost lives. PETA is calling on the Australian government to offer a solution to help humans and animals safely escape being caught in the crossfire.
Peta says it usually takes at least six months to bring an animal into Australia from the United Arab Emirates, due to quarantine controls and checks for rabies and immunisation requirements.
There were about 24,000 Australians living in the UAE before the war.
Bekhechi said countries including Austria, Belgium, Hungary and Croatia had temporarily relaxed animal import rules to allow returning citizens to bring their animals home.
Dennis Richardson says he was ‘way overpaid’ for royal commission role
Richardson called into the ABC to clarify his remarks on his salary for his work on the royal commission, saying it was actually too large for the work he was doing. He told ABC Radio Canberra:
It would be quite wrong to suggest that a royal commission is bogged down in legalese that is unnecessary. But it does take a certain amount of time and at the end of the day, to be very blunt, I was being way overpaid for what I was doing.
Atlassian to lay off about 10% of its workforce in shift to AI
Software provider Atlassian said on Wednesday it would lay off around 10% of its workforce, or roughly 1,600 positions, as part of a restructuring plan to push into artificial intelligence and enterprise sales, Reuters reports.
The company said it expects to incur total pre-tax charges between US$225m and $236m related to the layoffs and office space reductions.
The move comes as the company seeks to “rebalance” its resources to focus on the “future of teamwork in the AI era”, according to a regulatory filing.
Richardson said he didn’t believe he was being paid ‘consistent’ with his work on royal commission
Back to Dennis Richardson’s interview on RN earlier this morning. The former spy chief said he didn’t believe he was being paid “consistent” with his work on the royal commission into antisemitism. He told RN:
I came to a view that, quite frankly, what I was being paid wasn’t consistent with the work I was doing.
When host Sally Sara asked what Richardson meant by that, he said simply:
Just that. I think most people would understand that, Sally.
A quick update on Australians returning home from the Middle East
More than 3,200 Australians have arrived in the country on 23 direct flights since 4 March, with more scheduled to arrive this morning and others expected to depart from Dubai today.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will speak about those repatriation efforts later this morning.
Emirates and Qatar Airways are still only operating limited flights from the region.
Richardson says he felt he was ‘surplus’ to needs of royal commission
Dennis Richardson says his decision to resign from the royal commission into antisemitism had nothing to do with the government, but says he came to the decision that he was “surplus” to the needs of the body.
He spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying:
I think probably there wasn’t enough discussion right at the beginning about the precise way things would work, and ultimately I came to the [decision] that I was surplus to requirements.
Richardson says he believes the royal commission will do a “highly professional job”.
Resources minister says agreement to release oil reserves ‘really important’ and Australia ‘well insulated’ to withstand pressures
Madeleine King, the federal resources minister, is speaking about an order by the International Energy Agency that ordered the largest release of government oil reserves in its history yesterday.
The world’s energy watchdog said its 32 members had unanimously agreed to release about 400m barrels of emergency crude, a third of total stockpiles, to help calm the oil price shock triggered by the war in Iran.
“It’s a really important announcement from the IEA,” King said. “What I want to make really clear to everybody listening is all that fuel remains in Australia, like it doesn’t go anywhere because of this request.”
King was asked why Australia didn’t meet the recommended 90 days of fuel supply in reserve. She said it would be “enormously” expensive and cost about $20bn to store that amount.
What we have in the billions of litres of fuel that the government has under its minimum stockholding obligation is more than sufficient for this nation. And I would point out that shipments of fuel are arriving as scheduled …
There will be disruption the longer this conflict goes, but our government believes we are well insulated to withstand it.
Chalmers ‘really sad’ former spy chief quit royal commission into antisemitism
Chalmers said he was “really sad” to learn about Dennis Richardson departing the royal commission into antisemitism. Richardson resigned without explanation on Wednesday, just a fortnight after its opening hearing.
Chalmers told RN he hadn’t spoken to Richardson after the decision, adding:
Ultimately it’s a matter for him and the royal commission …
From a personal point of view I was sad to hear it because he is a person of such immense experience and knowledge.
Chalmers says Australia well-placed to deal with the ‘worst’ of the economic fallout from Middle East conflict
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said this morning the government is not considering a cut to the fuel excise amid the turmoil in the Middle East, but maintained the country is well placed to weather the economic impacts of the ongoing war.
Chalmers spoke to RN Breakfast this morning
I can assure people that we have enough fuel in total and where there are issues in particular regional areas or different pockets of Australia, we work closely with the industry and the ACCC to try and ensure supply to those areas. … Obviously we share that concern about developments in the Middle East flowing through to our own economy.
We won’t be immune from these developments, but we are incredibly well placed as a country and as an economy to deal with the worst the world can throw at us.
Chalmers said there was no doubt the war was putting strain on Australians, but re-upped the government’s efforts to address cost of living pressures.
This conflict in the Middle East is already putting additional pressure on Australians. We understand that.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take things over. After the morning headlines, it’s time to dive into the day in politics. Stick with us.
Victorian plan to see homebuyers given free pest and building reports
Benita Kolovos
Buyers would no longer have to foot the bill for costly building and pest inspections, under a plan to be announced by the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, later this morning.
Allan will announce that if Labor is re-elected in November, it will develop a mandatory building and pest inspection scheme, with legislation to be introduced to parliament in 2027. Under the plan, vendors would be required to organise and pay for the inspections and make the reports available to all potential buyers.
The government pointed to data from the Consumer Policy Research Centre, which found building and pest inspection reports can cost up to $600, with almost half of all buyers paying for multiple inspections in the process of finding a home. The centre also found that 17% of buyers were “buying blind” with no reports, due to the cost and hassle involved.
In a statement, Allan said the “status quo isn’t working”:
Some buyers spend thousands on multiple reports. Some roll the dice and go without. When you buy a car, the seller pays for the roadworthy. It should work the same way when you look for a home.
Currently, the Australian Capital Territory is the only jurisdiction in Australia with such a scheme. There, vendors pay for inspection reports, which must be completed within three months before sale – though they aren’t required for new builds. After the contract is signed, the vendor can recover the report costs from the buyer.
Allan said she would consult with the ACT and with industry to draft its own scheme.
The minister for consumer affairs, Nick Staikos, said:
Doing the due diligence for your big purchase should be as simple and affordable as possible. We’ll do the work to make sure our scheme is watertight and protects buyers from conflicts of interest.
Vehicle belonging to missing tourists found
A vehicle was located last night in the search for two missing tourists in the Kilkivan area, Queensland police said.
The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were travelling in a Silver Subaru Forrester from Brisbane to North Burnett when they failed to make their destination.
A search commenced yesterday involving police, SES, helicopters in the Kilkivan to Mundubbera area.
A silver vehicle was then located at Kilkivan Tansey Road, near McArthur Road and police remained at the scene last night.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the two missing tourists was urged to contact police.
The area has been inundated by rain leading to severe flooding.
Earthquake felt near Boorowa
Jordyn Beazley
A 4.4 magnitude earthquake hit around 110km north of Canberra just after 7pm last night.
More than 4,000 people reported to Geoscience Australia that they had felt the earthquake within 45 minutes of it hitting.
The epicentre of the earthquake was near Boorowa and was recorded at 7.09pm.
NSW anti-slavery commissioner questions handling of Iranian football squad’s departure
Jordyn Beazley
The NSW anti-slavery commissioner has questioned the Australian federal police, Sydney airport and Qantas’s role in facilitating the departure of the Iranian women’s football team from Australia, despite “the widespread concern about threats, intimidation, and coercion”.
Dr James Cockayne said in a statement that he was pleased that players and some support staff were given a chance to meet privately with a home affairs official and an interpreter. After the meeting, two more squad members decided to stay in Australia, however one later changed her mind.
But Cockayne said he still holds doubts over whether the women made their decision free from duress.
He said:
This was an extraordinarily tough and traumatising decision to have to make – whether to return home to a war-torn country and face the wrath of a highly repressive, misogynistic regime or stay with a very uncertain future far away from family and supports, possibly placing family back in Iran at greater risk.
So the key questions we must ask now are: were these decisions truly made free from duress? And did these women have all the information they needed and were entitled to?
I have my doubts.
He said a number of questions need to be answered, including if the Iranian athletes received independent legal advice, if the AFP interviewed the women to determine if they were being coerced, and what Sydney airport and Qantas did to “address this clear and highly publicised risk of exit trafficking”.
He said:
Like many Australians, I look forward to these urgent questions being answered. I certainly do not want to believe that our national police force, or the businesses that run our national flag carrier and our busiest airport, may have turned a blind eye or even unwittingly contributed to exit trafficking.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
The New South Wales anti-slavery commissioner has questioned the Australian federal police, Sydney airport and Qantas’ role in facilitating the departure of the Iranian women’s football team from Australia, despite “the widespread concern about threats, intimidation, and coercion”. More coming.
And buyers would no longer have to foot the bill for costly building and pest inspections under a plan to be announced by the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, later this morning.
More coming up.
