Treasurer Says AI Boom Wont Lead to Public Service Job Cuts

This photograph shows a figurine in front of the logo of the U.S. artificial intelligence safety and research company Anthropic during a photo session in Paris on Feb. 13, 2026. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty ImagesAustralian Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the AI boom will not cause job losses in the public service.His comments come a day after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled part of his vision for AI regulation in the country, which include mandating data centre operators build or cover the cost of their own electricity generation.Albanese said AI’s development was as consequential as implementing universal superannuation and the social media ban.In response to questions on AI potentially streamlining government bureaucracy and whether it could trigger a reduction of the public payroll, Treasurer Chalmers said the current numbers were “about right.”Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers takes questions from the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on May 13, 2026. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images“If you look at that report that my colleague, [Minister] Amanda Rishworth, put out from the Employment Department, that’s all about the ways that artificial intelligence will change work, it’s about the ways that it will improve how people go about their daily tasks,” Chalmers told ABC Brisbane on July 16.When probed further about job cuts, Chalmers said, “No, I don’t anticipate that.”“But that’s partly because the roles and responsibilities of the public service evolve over time. We’re delivering an NDIS we weren’t delivering a couple of decades ago, we’ve got big responsibilities to process more veterans’ claims, for example, and so there are good reasons for those [public service] numbers,” the treasurer said.“An important part of our work and our considerations about AI are about making sure that workers in the public sector and the private sector are part of this really important transformation.”A day earlier, Albanese revealed some of the expected regulation his government will implement on AI use.The prime minister promised musicians, artists, and journalists intellectual property protection over their works, especially when they are used to train AI software.“No company should use Australian books, music, art, or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control, and that includes the artist’s control of the price and value of their work. Anything less is theft,” Albanese said during a July 15 address at the University of Sydney.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during an official event at Sydney University in Sydney, Australia, on July 15, 2026. David Gray/AFP via Getty ImagesAnother major policy is to mandate data centre operators either cover the cost or build their own electricity generation, as well as manage water use. Data centres are needed to handle the vast computing power required behind AI operations.“We will create a legal obligation for the next generation of large-scale data centres to underwrite new power supply, to pay their full share of grid connection so no costs are passed on to homes or businesses, and to put at least as much energy into our grid as they take out of it,” he said.Albanese said data centres will also need to minimise water use and “pay for any additional water infrastructure.”Last year, the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), the nation’s peak water body, says data centre developers are seeking about 5 to 40 million litres of water per day to cool down their facilities.