Governments should think beyond their tenure and take greater pride in domestic innovation to lead the artificial intelligence data centre boom, an independent senator says.
The political system puts the powerful interests of a few ahead of Australian voters, ACT senator David Pocock said in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
"A system where, apparently, the only way to bring down inflation is for people to lose their jobs and suffer under rising interest rates," he said.
"At the same time, over 1000 big companies including household names like Optus, Transurban and Adani pay no company tax ... and worse still, some of the companies making billions extracting and selling our natural resources don’t contribute their fair share."
Senator Pocock proposed a new five per cent tax on AI data centres' local revenue from January 1, 2027.
"In the context of a forecast $200 billion investment and little to no corporate tax paid by foreign data centre companies in this country, it's not much," he said, accusing the government of being swept up by foreign tech companies.
The issue was a live debate governments needed to consider, Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser told a conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
The Australian Academy of Science, which previously called for a 2.5 per cent levy on data centres' local revenue, also welcomed Senator Pocock's proposal.
Analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office suggests the policy would bring in about $400 million within three years and scale up to $1 billion in the coming decade.
However, the budget office said the analysis was subject to a high degree of uncertainty as the future rollout of AI in Australia was largely speculative.
A parliamentary inquiry into AI has heard from Australian-based company Vault Cloud, which said it had been overlooked in the current technology boom.
"How is that possible?" Senator Pocock said.
"Here we are bending over backwards for foreign AI companies while ignoring homegrown options available to us."
He reiterated calls for greater transparency around lobbyists at Parliament House and a 25 per cent tax on gas exports to free up the budget for social programs.
Senator Pocock predicted a larger independent cross bench would become a permanent fixture to better represent the community and welcomed the prospect of future minority governments.
His address came just days after an alleged targeted attack on fellow independent MP Helen Haines reignited concern over tense political discourse.
"What has happened to Helen has made me more determined to stand here today and say what I have to say," Senator Pocock said.
