TRANSCRIPT - SKY NEWS - MONDAY, 20 JULY 2026

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Welcome back. Let's go to our political panel, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman and former Liberal MP, Jason Falinski, who – look, I'm just going to start with you, Jason, because you were frustrated with my style on AI last week and I thought that you better – give you the talking stick straight up. The Government's approach to AI – just try to stick to 30 or 45 seconds – what were your issues here after you heard Anthony Albanese stand up and talk about his vision here?

JASON FALINKSI, FORMER LIBERAL MP: Well, leaving aside some of the softball questions that you gave the Minister responsible, Tom, I – look, I'm genuinely worried that the Government's approach will actually see data centres built elsewhere in the world. And that they leaned into some of the worst and most pernicious of mythologies around data centres. And so, one way or another, Australians will continue to use iPhone, continue to use the Cloud, and do they want their data stored in data centres sitting in other countries, or would they prefer them here in Australia? And I think that sovereignty question is quite easy to answer. That being the question, the answer is, are you actually going to do everything you can to promote the construction of data centres in Australia, or are you going to lean into what at best can be described as myth, at worst just an awful political campaign imported from the United States?

CONNELL: So, Pat, when the Government talks about doing it on Australia's terms, is that also being cognisant of not wanting to unnecessarily stop data centres? Is it something that the Government wants to happen here in Australia?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: We want to have national standards that mean there's clear rules of the road so these companies can come and invest here. The thing that Jason doesn't mention, that the Prime Minister did talk about last week, is that we also want to see that frontier investment. That is new investment in the very best technology here in Australia for the benefit of the Australian people.

Now, I've got already in my electorate, in the inner-city, data centres. These are not new things. We have been dealing with this for a period of time, but we're talking about massive amounts of computing power and therefore it's pretty reasonable that we expect some community consultation. We expect that these operators have thought about and come to the table with plans to add power into the grids.

That is all practical stuff. And it won't hold back investment. It will do what Australia's always done, which is have good, clear rules that encourage the right types of investment and make it easier for people to do that in a way where you've got broad community buy in.

FALINSKI: So, let's go through this one by one. Thank you, Tom. Let's go through this one by one. Firstly, national standards are always a race to the bottom. Everything this Government has done, from the, you know, first Jobs and Skills Summit to the last Productivity Roundtable, has always meant the opposite of what they've done. So, there is that concern around there. The whole idea that we don't have community consultation in Australia. 

GORMAN: You don't want people to talk to each other Jason? 

FALINSKI: Oh, I haven't finished it. If we haven't got community consultation – 

GORMAN: You never do. 

FALINSKI: Thanks Pat. That we haven't got community consultation in Australia is farcical. I was at a roundtable the other day whether, you know, the mighty and the powerful in this country was saying, 'oh New South Wales takes 144 days, but Queensland only takes, you know, 71 days until someone's sitting around the table' – and this is a global phenomena that happened – said, would you know how long it takes in Texas? One day. One day. So, this whole idea that we're not doing consultation is absolutely farcical. This whole idea, that they use too much water. This whole idea that they don’t use enough energy. 

CONNELL: Jason, let me – let me jump in. I know you wound up to eleven. 

FALINSKI: This is just not true.

CONNELL: When you say race to the bottom – as long as the standard is a reasonable one, and that's obviously key, to having standards – 

FALINSKI: How much more reasonable do you want these standards to be? 

CONNELL: Let me finish my question, please, please. The standard can be what the standard is. That's one element. That is – I want to separate that. But having a national standard, that's the opposite to a race to the bottom, isn't it? Isn't that just having a standard. Where if it's state by state, that then they're competing against each other. 

FALINSKI: And that's a good thing. Because then they're competing to actually get the work done quickly. But this whole idea that we have standards that are somehow deficient on a global basis, it's just nonsense. If anything, what we need to be doing is streamlining this so that we can get as much sovereign computing power here in Australia so that my personal data – I don't mind where your personal data goes, Tom, but Patrick and my personal data deserve to be reserved for Australians here in Australia. And if we're not going to – if we're going to keep taking 144 days here in New South Wales to approve these things, then of course people are just going to build them in Texas.

CONNELL: There's nothing in the standards where they – they're saying, 'make the consultation longer,' are they? Is that anywhere in this? 

FALINSKI: No, but where is it saying it's making it shorter? And they're putting all these extra standards on that are unnecessary. I mean, this whole idea that they have to take care of – 

CONNELL: What the energy? 

FALINSKI: Thank you, on energy. Basically, data centres are GPUs and electricity. So, already anyone building a data centre in this country, because we already have the most expensive electricity in the world, is trying to generate as much electric – 

GORMAN: That is not true. 

FALINSKI: As much electricity as they possibly can on site through batteries, solar and wind. And the ones that have been talked about – 

CONNELL: Patrick, is this a watch? If these bars – 

FALINSKI: Should I say, can I finish my answer.

CONNELL: That have to be cleared. No, because you've gone too long. Patrick, if the hurdles that are being required to clear mean all these data centres just stop being built, would Labor look at this again? Are you sort of agile in terms of wanting to continue to attract investment?

GORMAN: Look, what we know is that the world wants to build more computing power and these rapid advances are a great opportunity for Australia. But we also know that when you've got big changes happening in your economy, government has to step up and help lead that change. That is what we're doing. And it's not about holding back investment.

And I also don't agree with Jason, I don't want Australia to become like Texas. I think Australia is like Australia and Australia is a great place to do business because we have strong and stable democracy. We have got really good regulatory environments that make sure people are confident in their investments. I think this is a great place to do business, and this set of national standards will make sure that it's very clear when you come and you want to build something, how to go about it. How can that be a bad thing?

CONNELL: Pat, you wanted to talk today about Andrew Hastie's book, which I think – well, it's not written, it's out next year. What is this? You want an advance copy? Have you lost his phone number? I can send it to you if you need it. What have you got for us here?

GORMAN: Oh, look, I just think it's fascinating that we've got Andrew Hastie – there's a by-election, a state by-election happening in his electorate right now. And instead of going and helping the state Liberals in Western Australia, Andrew's decided to lock himself up in a cabin and write a book. It's fascinating stuff and we've got to have the – 

CONNELL: Well, hang on. He says he's got early starts, long flights to Perth, which you have as well. Maybe you could have been writing a book, to and from, Canberra. You must just be streaming the latest thing on Binge or something. 

FALINSKI: Oh, this has been turned back on Pat. Oh, no, no.

GORMAN: Yeah, Look, I'll stick to doing my job and focusing on delivering for the Australian people, but I think [INAUDIBLE] –

CONNELL: What's your favourite plane activity, Perth to Canberra, Pat? 

FALINSKI: Hey, can I ask who's running in the by-election?

GORMAN: I'll tell you, I actually, I really enjoy reading. So, I normally read books - 

FALINSKI: And cabinet's [INAUDIBLE]. 

CONNELL: So, you're not working. 

GORMAN: So, I can't wait – 

FALINSKI: Favourite book? 

GORMAN: I can’t wait to get Andrew Hastie’s book. 

FALINSKI: We're not getting any information here. 

GORMAN: I’ll be asking him to sign me a copy.

FALINSKI: Who is running in this by-election in his seat and who's likely to win, Pat?

GORMAN: That is up to the voters of the electorate of Secret Harbour.

FALINSKI: Okay, but – okay, well, who's running?

GORMAN: I don't know the name of the Liberal candidate. I know the Labor candidate's name is Georgia Tree. But I don't know who the Liberal candidate's name is. But I do know the Liberal candidate managed to lock in a preference deal with One Nation before One Nation had even announced who their candidate was going to be. That was pretty fascinating.

FALINSKI: Okay, so you don't know anything about the by-election except that. 

GORMAN: And that Andrew Hastie is too busy to help because he's writing a book.

FALINSKI: Okay. And what is your favourite book by the way?  

CONNELL: But hang on – but he's writing a book on the plane journeys while you read books, Pat. So, can you [INAUDIBLE] – 

GORMAN: I would proofread it for him. 

FALINSKI: [INAUDIBLE]. Maybe he should do Sudoku or something. Hey, what's your best book of this year so far, Pat? On your plane flights?

GORMAN: I would say Mad Mabel was a book that took me a little while to get into. Great Australian author. Really enjoyed that. I also, for the second time, you'll be pleased to know this, Jason, and I encourage some of your Liberal colleagues to follow me. For the second time I read Lazarus Rising, which is probably a better read than whatever Andrew Hastie and Josh Frydenberg are going to pump out.

FALINSKI: You really don't like Andrew, do you?

GORMAN: I do like Andrew. I’ve got respect for him.

CONNELL: I feel like I better just – 

GORMAN: I completely disagree with him on a range of policy matters, but I think he's a decent human being.

FALINSKI: Oh, well, that's nice.

CONNELL: If you've been watching, it is a political panel. We're not at the pub catching up right now, despite what it might sound like.

GORMAN: Jason's already been to the pub.

FALINSKI: Well, going back to what Pat said before about Australia being a place to invest, I'm happy to go back to that if you like.

CONNELL: We've got to rap, Jason.

FALINSKI: Oh, damn. Well, there we go.

CONNELL: Hold your fire. We can't keep you away for another month because you really come in fired up, don't you? No, we like that. Jason. Patrick. Thank you. 

ENDS