23 November 2025
6 min read
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This year has been a whirlwind for Australian Government lawyers, with shifts in technology and an ambitious reform agenda driving change across the public sector. As we look ahead to 2026, these developments continue to shape legal practice.
In the fifth year of our series, we focus on artificial intelligence (AI), productivity, stewardship, cybersecurity and record keeping, and discuss what they mean for lawyers and the broader public sector.
Discussion of AI was everywhere in 2025, and the momentum is only growing. AI is increasingly shaping the way the Australian Government delivers services to the community. Its use is already lifting enterprise capability, with the potential for broader application across government. Agencies such as Services Australia and IP Australia are already demonstrating AI’s ability to enhance service delivery, both through customer-facing tools and internal systems to promote faster processing and more responsive service.
The Australian Government has developed policies to promote the responsible and ethical deployment of AI, supported by structures and guardrails to mitigate risks and protect public trust. On 12 November 2025, the Government released its AI Plan for the Australian Public Service to drive safe, responsible and effective adoption of AI. Under the Plan, all Australian Public Service (APS) officials will have access to generative AI though GovAI and GovAI Chat, in addition to public and enterprise AI services.
Building on its Policy for the Responsible Use of AI in Government, the Digital Transformation Agency has also published model clauses to manage risks and ethical challenges in AI procurement. Aligning with guidance documents that draw on international best practice will help ensure Australia realise the potential productivity gains and deliver enhanced services to the community.
Our recent AI roundtable shared knowledge regarding model clauses, managing intellectual property and addressing privacy challenges in a fast-moving area. Obtaining expert legal and technical advice is essential to ensure relevant statutory, administrative and ethical considerations are appropriately managed during implementation.
In August 2025, the Economic Reform Roundtable became a focal point for ideas to boost productivity and the economy. Legal teams have long been expected to do more with less and reducing roadblocks in regulatory approaches will assist in achieving this. We are already seeing the introduction of proposed legislation to address sticking points in our economy and processes.
On 8 October 2025, the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025 was introduced to the Australian Parliament and includes provisions for a ‘tell us once’ approach to support the sharing and use of information provided to various government agencies, including Services Australia. The reform will expand the circumstances under which Services Australia can share information between the Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support Programs, reducing the need for multiple collection points and sparing customers from repeating their stories. For those dealing with the complexities of these secrecy provisions, this will be a substantial change and assist in streamlining processes.
The growing use of AI to generate large numbers of anonymous freedom of information (FOI) requests has raised concerns regarding resource diversion. In response, the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, introduced on 3 September 2025, proposes a range of reforms to enhance the operation of the legislation. The Bill aims to remove the capacity for anonymous requests and introduce more effective measures to address vexatious FOI requests.
These are two examples of important reforms to simplify and improve regulatory regimes. Uplifting productivity will remain a key focus for the Australian Government across the spectrum of its functions.
With an ongoing focus on integrity and accountability, government teams should ensure they implement the new APS value of stewardship, recognised under the Public Service Act 1999. This value reflects the APS's long-term role in serving the Australian community and should be front of mind when designing new policies and programs. Ensuring that ethical considerations are embedded into practice and working to achieve integrity preserves public trust and enables better outcomes. The value also involves the continuous development of skills and effective knowledge management to support decision-making.
Legal teams can assist their agencies in adopting the stewardship value and translating it into tangible action. For example, agencies should ensure intellectual property registers are up-to-date and agency intellectual property policies comply with the Intellectual Property Principles for Commonwealth Entities. This supports the Australian Government to appropriately manage its important and valuable assets, now and into the future. Similarly, large scale procurements and grant schemes are often areas of focus for the Australian National Audit Office. Appointing probity advisers can help agencies navigate ethical issues in this space and achieve defensible outcomes.
Cybersecurity is an ever-shifting challenge and the Australian Government is on the front foot with the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. Committing to a best-in-class approach of annual updates to the Protective Security Policy Framework, those in the public sector should expect a process of continuously increasing requirements. Staying up to date with changes and engaging in consultation processes help ensure agencies remain vigilant to cybersecurity issues without suffering ‘security fatigue’.
The Digital Transformation Agency has released cyber risk model clauses to assist in addressing cyber issues in ICT procurements for software, cloud and professional services. The clauses help to mitigate risks associated with cyber incidents and data breaches and guidance has also been provided on cyber insurance. Australian Government entities should consider these clauses and the associated guidance to ensure procurements provide for adequate cybersecurity and data protection.
Calls to strengthen Australian Government record-keeping have been a consistent theme in the findings of royal commissions, audit reports and public inquiries. Good record-keeping not only ensures compliance with archives requirements but also supports FOI processes. Advances in technology mean that record-keeping practices need to constantly evolve and develop. A recent successful request for release of AI chat logs is a reminder of the broad scope of what is considered a ‘document’ for the purposes of FOI.
Similarly, messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger and Telegram are used by many agencies due to their immediacy and convenience. However, their use presents significant challenges for government record-keeping. With recent events highlighting the pitfalls of messaging apps, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) published Messaging apps: a report on Australian Government agency practices and policies which examined the prevalence and use of messaging apps by government agencies, particularly those with disappearing messages functions.
The Commissioner recommends that agencies review existing policies or develop new ones that clearly set out whether messaging apps are permitted for work purposes. Policies should address how to extract information from messaging apps, whether official accounts and agency-issued phones are required, when disappearing messages functions should be disabled and whether staff can use messaging apps when handling personal information about members of the public. Implementing the OAIC’s recommendations will help agencies better meet their record-keeping, FOI and privacy obligations when using these apps. The recommendations also offer guidance for managing digital communications effectively and lawfully.
If you have any questions or thoughts on these trends, please contact us here. You can also read our previous articles on legal trends in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the public sector.
Disclaimer
The information in this article is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, we do not guarantee that the information in this article is accurate at the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.
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