By Lucinda Garbutt-Young in Canberra

A best-practice guide for artificial intelligence use in workplaces has the potential to save hundreds of people from being sacked, the employment minister says.

Draft guidelines for AI adoption, released by the federal government on Thursday, call for direct consultation with staff about the technology and its careful implementation.

The voluntary guide is based on months of departmental roundtable talks with unions and employer groups.

Major companies including Microsoft, Commonwealth Bank, Kmart and Telstra were also consulted.

“What’s key to (the guide) is trust with the workforce, because it will be up to individual workers whether they embrace AI fully,” Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth told ABC Radio National.

She said it would help with job retention and upskilling.

But in the same week as the release, Qantas announced it would be moving 850 domestic positions overseas under an outsourcing deal with technology giant Accenture.

The decision has been blasted by the government and peak body for workers, the Australian Services Union, which blamed AI for the cuts.

“We need to make sure that these AI announcements and job cuts are genuine and not a Trojan horse for widespread offshoring,” the union’s Assistant National Secretary Scott Cowen said earlier this week.

The sacked employees, to be let go from mid-2027, would have benefited from direct consultation on AI implementation, as outlined in the guide, Ms Rishworth said.

Workers should have, under a best-practice scenario, been offered alternative roles, she added.

“We also (need to) talk about investing in the workforce.

“If AI does change someone’s task, job, or role, how do we invest in that individual, because they know the business?” she said.

But independent Senator David Pocock was not as convinced, saying that while he welcomed the government’s crackdowns, they were delayed.

“Really frustratingly, we’ve lost years in protecting Australians from the harms and the high-risk aspects of artificial intelligence,” he told Radio National.

“Now it is a case of ensuring that we actually strengthen what the government is proposing.”

Senator Pocock has been a strong advocate for mandatory reporting, copyright protections and further safeguards.

The government this week announced it would introduce mandatory standards and a new regulator with the power to impose penalties on technology companies that do not comply.

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