Australia’s National AI Plan makes strong commitments to infrastructure and adoption, but leaves governance and liability unresolved. This uncertainty exposes SMEs to risk, complicates investment decisions, and weakens public trust. History shows that technologies such as electricity became dependable only when standards, liability, and oversight aligned. AI now requires the same institutional attention if it is to move from experimentation to reliable national infrastructure

As AI reshapes labour markets, Australian policymakers find themselves reactive rather than strategic. Geographic isolation intensifies the risk. Political economy thinking offers better tools for governing technological transitions strategically, but these remain outside mainstream policy practice. Bringing them back requires political action: building institutions, allocating resources, and challenging existing distributions of influence.