Assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy Andrew Charlton has predicted the AI-driven data centre boom could have a more profound impact on the Australian economy than the resources boom, while warning governments must set the terms of investment early to avoid repeating mistakes made in gas.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox has urged governments to move faster on power, water and planning reforms for data centres, warning Australia risks missing a major productivity and manufacturing opportunity if infrastructure bottlenecks are not addressed.

Home Affairs minister Tony Burke has tightened security rules for a subset of critical infrastructure assets, including key broadcasting assets and the .au domain name system operated by auDA, in a move that could eventually be extended to telecommunications networks.

Microsoft has signed a new memorandum of understanding with the federal government covering national security and economic resilience, but has declined to release the full agreement.