Hi.
Australian AI Standards

A reader's guide to this kit

This page says out loud what the rest of the site is doing, because the method only works if it is declared.

What this is. A set of working materials for Australia's AI Standards process, published before consultation opened, by a small Australian software practice whose systems already run the pattern the announced framework describes. Everything is dated, versioned, attributed and free to adopt - in whole, in part, or as raw material for something better. Nothing here requires a conversation with us, a contract, or a login.

Why it is built this way. Text enters legislation through known doors: definitions travel into drafting instructions almost intact; model instruments get adapted by agencies; explanatory material gets mined for briefs; comms language gets reused verbatim. We have written one artefact for each door. That is also what well-resourced lobbying operations do - the difference, and the entire point, is that ours is published first and signed. If any of this text ends up in an instrument, a brief or a speech, its provenance can be established from the dates on these pages. That is exactly the standard we think should apply to every participant in the process.

The kit, by the door it fits:

Working reference code. A running reference implementation of the licensed-capability mechanism is published at git.meanwhile.computer/meanwhile/research - clone it and check the claims yourself.

  • For orientation: the sovereign capability page (what the word means past the data-centre debate) and the essay that started this, which explains how legislative text actually gets written and why we chose to publish rather than book meetings.

How to use it without owing us anything. Take what is useful. Attribution is appreciated and never required - the pages are dated either way. If something is wrong, the contact link reaches the person who will fix it, and corrections get published. If the Office of AI or any consultation wants the working system demonstrated, we will come; that offer is made once, here and in the letter, and not repeated.

What we get out of it. Asked and answered plainly: we want the pattern adopted - determinations with authors, consent as revocable records, capabilities under licence - because we think it is right, and because we build software that already works this way, which means adoption is good for us. Both things are true; pretending only the first would insult you. Our funding, support and interests are listed publicly on the needs page, including the register of support received.

Formats. Everything here is also available as a single download - a zip of plain documents, no macros, with a manifest listing each file and its checksum so you can verify what you received matches what we published. On your machine, away you go.

In this kit. Every artefact in the set, by its route:

Written with model assistance. Read and edited by a human - though I'm not an editor, so tell me what I've missed: drop me a line. Parts of this were generated; all of it was read, checked and meant. Feedback is welcome and gets used.

Reviewed and checked by the human author: 2026-07-20.

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