Senate Environment and Communications References Committee - Sydney, NSW (part 1 of 2)
22 September 2026
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Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Australian Parliament
18:17 - 20:58
Speaker 1
Well I declare open this first hearing of the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centers. I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians on the land on which we meet and pay my respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today. These are public proceedings being audio and video streamed via the Parliament's website and a Hansard transcript is being made. There's obviously media in the room and assuming Senator Henderson you don't have a concern with that. Okay.
We will allow that recording to continue in accordance with our broadcasting resolutions. I remind all witnesses that in giving evidence to the committee they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee and such action must may be treated by the Senate as contempt.
It is also contempt to give false or misleading evidence. The committee generally prefers our evidence to be given in public but under the Senate's resolutions witnesses do have the right to request to be heard in a private session. If a witness objects to answering a question they should state the ground upon which the objection is made and the committee will determine whether we insist on an answer having regard of course to the reasons why. If the committee determines to insist on an answer a witness may request the answer be given in camera. I remind all senators and we have Senator Henderson in the room with me, Senator Pocock will be joining shortly and we have Senator Ghosh via video conference joining us today as well.
And I remind all of us of our obligations under the behavior code of Australian parliamentarians to treat witnesses with dignity, courtesy, fairness and respect. Now if there's a question that we ask you and you don't know the answer and want to take it on notice, that's fine but our deadline for answers taken on notice will be Tuesday the 6th of October. I now welcome representatives from Lane Cove Responsible Planning, Voices of Bennelong, Stop the Slop and Sweltering Cities. I understand that information on parliamentary privilege and the protection of witnesses giving evidence to Senate committees has been provided to you. For the Hansard record I need each of you to state your full names and the capacities in which you appear and we'll start from this end and work our way down.
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