Opinion: Why Australia needs an AI sovereign wealth fund
The executive director of Essential suggests a model inspired by Norway’s oil fund to capture public value from tech giants training models in Australia
Peter Lewis, executive director of the strategic communications firm Essential, has published an opinion piece in The Guardian proposing that Australia establish an artificial intelligence sovereign wealth fund. The proposal argues that the government should secure a co-investment stake in the industry to capture public value, rather than relying exclusively on taxation mechanisms.
Lewis contends that executives from major technology companies, specifically Microsoft and Anthropic, are currently engaging with Canberra to secure locations for training massive AI models. He asserts that these firms are seeking stable political environments, renewable energy sources, and available space after exhausting public tolerance for data centre expansion in the United States.
The article cites Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, established in the 1970s following North Sea oil discoveries, as a global exemplar for vesting resource benefits with the public. Currently valued at more than A$3tn, the fund was designed as a co-investment to capture benefits through taxes, licences, and dividends. Lewis suggests Australia adopt a similar approach to ensure the financial arrangements for the new industry are designed upfront.
Lewis argues that access to Australian data centre infrastructure should be linked to profit-sharing, copyright reparations, and ongoing licensing fees for creators. He references recent court cases and a rejected proposal by Tech Council’s Scott Farquhar for a data mining exemption to assert that tech giants have systematically scraped web data to train models. The proposal requires that operating conditions include compensation for creators and a continuous share in the profits of companies training models in Australia.
The piece notes that the South Korean government is exploring an AI profits fund and that US thinktanks are considering a token tax on AI usage. Lewis contrasts the current proposal with the Hawke government’s decision in the 1970s to avoid upfront investment in large LNG deposits off the West Australian coast, a move he characterises as a bad call in hindsight. He also references former Treasury secretary Ken Henry’s view that Australian resistance to resource taxation stems from historical attitudes dating back to the Eureka Stockade.