An Australian, citizen-led campaign

Australia's AI future should be decided by Australians.

AI platforms and the data centres behind them are reshaping our power grid, our economy and our government — fast, and largely on terms set by overseas tech giants. We're calling for an urgent, independent review that weighs Government, the public, and Australian-owned business equally.

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Why this petition matters

Six reasons Australians are calling for an urgent, independent review.

Decisions are being made too fast

Policy that will shape Australia for a generation is being set faster than the public can scrutinise it. A review slows it down and opens it up.

Our power, water and land

Data centres consume enormous amounts of electricity, water and land. We deserve to know who pays — and whether the public is subsidising private infrastructure.

A fair share of tax

The biggest AI and cloud platforms pay comparatively little tax here, despite the data, energy and customers they draw from Australia.

Australian small business and home-grown tech

Platform dominance squeezes small and medium businesses, startups and local tech builders. The review must protect a level playing field for them.

Decided by Australians

The rules should be set in the open — weighing government, the public and Australian-owned business equally — not handed to us by overseas tech lobbyists.

Who decides about your job

Right now corporate Australia is in the driving seat on how this tech gets deployed — which means they decide how it reshapes jobs and how it serves the rest of us. That should concern every Australian and every worker.

Take action in two minutes

Sign both. The first carries official weight in Parliament; the second builds public pressure.

1

Sign the official Parliament e-petition

Lodged with the House of Representatives and formally tabled. This is the one that lands on the public record.

Sign the APH e-petition
2

Sign the Change.org petition

Add your name to the public campaign and help it reach the people who need to see it.

Sign on Change.org

Who's behind this

I'm Michael, the person behind Everyday Middle — a platform for the everyday Australians who usually get talked about in these debates, but rarely get a say in them.

I've spent 25+ years working inside the tech industry. I've seen up close what these tools can do, how quickly they move, and how decisions that affect millions of people get made in rooms most of us never enter. That experience is exactly why this matters to me. I'm not anti-AI and I'm not anti-technology — I want Australia to benefit from it. But I've watched the gap between how fast this is moving and how little ordinary people get consulted, and I think that gap is a problem worth doing something about.

This campaign is independent and citizen-led. It isn't backed by any company, and it never will be. It's funded by everyday people chipping in, and it answers to them — not to a multinational, a lobby group, or anyone with a stake in the outcome. If we're asking the Government to put Australians first, the least we can do is run this campaign the same way.

— Michael, Everyday Middle