Australia · Voluntary framework

Australia's AI Ethics Principles

Australia's eight voluntary AI Ethics Principles, published in 2019, are the baseline most Australian AI policy builds on. What they say and where they apply.

Australia's AI Ethics Principles are eight voluntary principles for designing, developing and using AI, published by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources in November 2019. They cover wellbeing, human-centred values, fairness, privacy and security, reliability and safety, transparency and explainability, contestability and accountability. They carry no legal force on their own, but the DTA policy, the NSW and Queensland government frameworks and the national assurance framework all require or build on them.

What it is

Australia’s AI Ethics Principles are eight voluntary principles for the responsible design, development, deployment and use of AI. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) published them on 7 November 2019 as part of Australia’s AI Ethics Framework, following public consultation. The government describes them as voluntary and intended to complement existing regulation and practice, not replace it.

The principles say what AI governance should achieve. They do not say how. That is why later instruments exist, and why almost every one of them points back to these eight.

The eight principles

Human, societal and environmental wellbeing. AI systems should benefit individuals, society and the environment.
Human-centred values. AI systems should respect human rights, diversity and the autonomy of individuals.
Fairness. AI systems should be inclusive and accessible, and should not involve or result in unfair discrimination against individuals, communities or groups.
Privacy protection and security. AI systems should respect and uphold privacy rights and data protection, and ensure the security of data.
Reliability and safety. AI systems should reliably operate in accordance with their intended purpose.
Transparency and explainability. There should be transparency and responsible disclosure so people can understand when they are being significantly impacted by AI, and can find out when an AI system is engaging with them.
Contestability. When an AI system significantly impacts a person, community, group or environment, there should be a timely process to allow people to challenge the use or outcomes of the AI system.
Accountability. People responsible for the different phases of the AI system lifecycle should be identifiable and accountable for the outcomes of the AI systems, and human oversight of AI systems should be enabled.

Who it applies to

Anyone who designs, develops, deploys or uses AI in Australia may adopt the principles. For businesses, adoption is voluntary. For government, they are increasingly required through other instruments.

Commonwealth agencies. The DTA policy requires agencies to tell staff who design and implement AI about the principles, and its impact assessment tool has a section for each of seven of them.
NSW agencies. The NSW AI Operational Policy, mandated by Circular DCS-2026-02, requires agencies to adhere to the principles. It replaced the NSW AI Ethics Policy to align NSW with the national approach.
Queensland agencies. The Queensland AI governance policy requires agencies to align to the principles by applying the FAIRA risk assessment.
All governments. The national framework for the assurance of AI in government, agreed in June 2024, sets out practices for applying each principle to government AI.

What it requires

Nothing, on its own. Organisations that adopt the principles usually turn them into commitments in an AI ethics policy, questions in a risk or impact assessment and checks before deployment. The test of adoption is whether you can show the practice behind each principle. Contestability needs an actual process for challenging an outcome. Accountability needs a named person for each system, not a committee.

The principles overlap deliberately. A fairness failure usually involves transparency and contestability failures too, so treating them as a checklist where partial coverage is enough misses the point.

Key dates

The principles were published on 7 November 2019. The national assurance framework built on them was agreed by the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting on 21 June 2024. The Guidance for AI Adoption, published on 21 October 2025, evolves the principles into six practices. It replaced the Voluntary AI Safety Standard, which is superseded. The principles themselves remain current.

How it relates to other frameworks

The principles are the vocabulary of Australian AI governance. The Guidance for AI Adoption supplies the practices. The DTA policy, the NSW AI Assessment Framework and the Queensland FAIRA turn them into mandatory assessments for government. The Privacy Act ADM rules make part of the transparency principle a legal duty. Internationally, the principles sit close to the OECD AI Principles, to which Australia adheres.

Working with it in Aicura

Australia’s AI Ethics Principles are available in Aicura from the Essentials tier. An administrator enables them in Settings under Frameworks and chooses which governance policy reviews apply them under Reviews.

Once enabled, the principles inform the risk assessment Aicura runs for each AI system and agent. Each assessment produces an overall rating and rated risk items across domains such as fairness, privacy, reliability, transparency, accountability and human oversight, each with suggested controls. Governance policy reviews of your AI Ethics and Human Rights Policy, the most direct organisational response to the principles, return recommendations against them. The AI Register records the owner and accountable executive for each system, which is where the accountability principle starts.

Aicura provides guidance. It does not score you against the principles or certify adoption.

Last reviewed 16 October 2026. This page explains the framework to support your governance work. It is not legal advice; read the official source for the authoritative text.

Questions

Are the AI Ethics Principles mandatory?

Not on their own. They are voluntary for business. They become requirements where another instrument adopts them, such as the NSW AI Operational Policy, which makes adherence mandatory for NSW government agencies, and the Queensland AI governance policy.

Have the principles been replaced by the Guidance for AI Adoption?

No. The principles remain published. The Guidance for AI Adoption builds on them and turns them into six practices an organisation can implement, so most organisations use both, with the principles as the outcomes and the practices as the work.

We have a privacy policy. Does that cover the privacy principle?

Only in part. The privacy protection and security principle covers data protection and security across the AI lifecycle, not just what you tell people. A privacy policy is one piece of evidence for it.

Does Aicura score us against the eight principles?

No. Aicura uses the principles as a source in risk assessments and governance policy reviews and returns guidance. It does not issue a score or a verdict.

Use AI Ethics Principles in your Aicura reviews

Enable AI Ethics Principles as a framework in Aicura on the Essentials plan and above, on top of the AI register every plan starts with.