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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has offered up qualified apologies for controversial remarks she made about First Nations Australians, and the prime minister's late mother. Senator Hanson’s comments were made in two separate podcast interviews and both triggered backlash from across the political spectrum.

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00:01Well a very good afternoon to you Jo.
00:04So after avoiding the media all of yesterday really, Senator Hanson fronted the media head
00:10on in the press gallery where she addressed two separate controversies over two separate
00:15podcast interviews.
00:17She first responded to comments that she made about the Prime Minister's late mother on
00:23the Karl Stefanovic show a bit earlier this year where she criticised Anthony Albanese's
00:29late mother over the time that she spent in public housing.
00:33Now Pauline Hanson said that she apologised over any offence caused by her comments.
00:42Take a listen.
00:43I don't think my comments were derogatory towards his mother at all.
00:48I was referring to house permission at that time.
00:51So if he's taken offence to it, well I'm sorry for that.
00:54Senator Pauline Hanson there Jo and just a short time after making that qualified apology,
01:00she offered up another one, but this time it was in regards to comments that she'd made
01:06during a resurfaced podcast that she appeared on last year.
01:11And that was where she referred to Indigenous Australians as quote, the most primitive race
01:19on earth.
01:19Now, yesterday this triggered significant backlash from across the political spectrum.
01:25And indeed today the Australian Human Rights Commission issued a statement saying that those
01:30comments were completely unacceptable.
01:33Senator Hanson again, as I mentioned, offered a qualified apology.
01:37Here she is.
01:38If I've offended people by using that, yes, I will apologise for that.
01:44But I will not back away from what needs to be discussed.
01:48And you cannot, you know, we can't back away from what is happening in the country.
01:52I see the division that's happening in Australia.
01:55I've always advocated we are Australians all together and should be all treated equally
02:01on a needs basis, not about race.
02:06And Lexi, on another matter, what's happening with the tussle between Australia's creative
02:10industries and AI companies in the PM's position?
02:14Yes, so Joe, there's a report in the Australian newspaper today that points to AI giant OpenAI
02:21issuing really an ultimatum to Anthony Albanese saying that it won't even consider investing
02:27in domestic AI training or renewables energy if the government refuses to water down copyright
02:34laws.
02:35So during question time today in both the Senate and indeed the House of Representatives,
02:40there were lots of questions around AI and the government in the House of Representatives.
02:46The Prime Minister answered a question posed by a Labor backbencher in regards to development
02:52of AI in Australia.
02:54He did mention protecting Australia's creative industries in his response.
02:59Here's a bit of that audio.
03:00AI is not neutral and we must make sure that we use the capacity that we have to ensure
03:08that artificial intelligence reflects Australian values, that it works for people, that it enhances
03:16rather than undermines our democracy, that it helps to build our future economic resilience
03:21and backs our jobs, that our creative industries are protected.
03:27Anthony Albanese there really pointing to the fact that the government is committed to protecting
03:32Australia's creative industries.
03:33I should point out, Joe, just a short time ago our national AI reporter Cam Wilson has published
03:39a piece pointing to a copyright reform plan that's been cited by the ABC that's been put
03:46forward in government documents that shows that AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic would
03:52be allowed to train their models on online content without paying creators as long as they strike deals with
03:58enough rights holders.
03:59Now we're still waiting to hear back from the government in regards to this document that
04:04has been cited but the Prime Minister, he's heading to California this Friday to meet with some
04:09big tech giants then going to New York City for the UN General Assembly where he said that
04:14he'll meet with other leaders from across the world because collaboration with those partners
04:18partners is essential in his words to making sure that AI can roll out in Australia's national
04:23interests back home.
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