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Australian AI Standards

Schema annex: the record structures, as fields

Companion to the model instrument. Each schema below is a field table: a drafter can read it as "what the obligation looks like as data"; an implementer can read it as a starting structure. Deployment status is stated per schema and per field, because the difference between running and specified is exactly the kind of thing this kit exists to make explicit. Three status values recur:

  • Running - in production on our systems or a client deployment today, named as they appear
  • Canonical - the generalised form this annex proposes
  • Specification - designed and published but not yet deployed

Where a mechanism is demonstrated by published, runnable reference code rather than by an in-production deployment, it is marked running reference implementation with the repository named.

Field types use plain names (text, date, link, selection, hash) rather than any platform's vocabulary, so the tables transplant.


Schema 1: Consent grant

Instrument reference: Part 2, sections 7-9. Status: a consent lifecycle record is Running in production; the five-element grant extends it, and the extensions are marked.

Field Type Required Status Meaning / instrument element
grantor link (person or organisation) yes Running (as participant) Who issues the grant
grantee link (organisation) yes Canonical Element (a). Running system holds this implicitly (the operating entity is the grantee); a general grant must name it
data_scope structured text or class list yes Running (as activity_scope, partial) Element (b): the data or classes covered
purpose text, one per purpose yes Running (as activity_scope, conflated with data_scope) Element (c). The running field conflates (b) and (c); the canonical form separates them because purpose limitation (s10) cannot be tested against a conflated field
period_end date yes, or review_interval Running (expiry_date) Element (d)
review_interval_days integer alternative to period_end Running (refresh_interval_days) Element (d) alternate form; drives refresh prompts
revocation_method text yes Canonical Element (e). Running system implements revocation (below) but does not state the method in the record; s7 requires it stated
status selection: given / active / refresh-due / renewed / withdrawn yes Running Lifecycle state
given_date, given_by date, text yes Running Formation evidence
withdrawn_date, withdrawn_reason date, text on withdrawal Running Revocation evidence (s21)
renewal_count, last_renewed_date integer, date - Running The record as lifecycle object (s9), not collection-time ritual

Gap statement, plainly: the running record implements the lifecycle (status, refresh, withdrawal, archival) and four of the five elements in some form. The named grantee and the stated revocation method are the two additions the instrument would force; the conflation of data-scope with purpose is the one separation it would force. That a production consent system built independently lands this close to the five elements is evidence the elements are the right five.

Schema 2: Determination record

Instrument reference: Part 5, sections 17-20. Status: the human-determination structure is Running; the paired inferred-result structure is Running on a client deployment (a design-review platform in commercial use); the canonical table generalises both.

Field Type Required Status Meaning
subject_ref link yes Running What the determination is about (the checklist item, application, case)
result selection (domain-specific; e.g. pass / fail / pending) yes Running The conclusion
author link (person), captured at adoption yes Running (via record ownership + workflow actor) / Canonical (as explicit field) Section 17. The running system derives the author from the acting user and workflow; the canonical form makes it an explicit, immutable field because derived authorship decays when records are migrated or bulk-edited
adopted_at timestamp yes Canonical The author's act of adoption (s20) as an event, distinct from record creation
informed_by link to inferred result record(s) where applicable Running (client deployment) The join that makes "informed by an inferred result" a queryable fact rather than a sentence
response_text, notes text - Running Reasons, in the author's words

Paired structure - inferred result (the parallel record, never the same table):

Field Type Required Status Meaning
subject_ref link yes Running (client deployment) Same subject the determination will address
inferred_conclusion text / structured yes Running (client deployment) What the model derived - displayed with a distinct visual marker so it cannot be mistaken for a determination (s20)
provenance_ref link to provenance record yes Canonical (fields exist; the join is the addition) Section 18(b): what produced it
produced_at timestamp yes Running (client deployment) -
adopted_into link to determination, set only by an author's act - Canonical The one-way door: an inferred result becomes part of a determination only through adoption, never by default (s20's contravention, as a constraint the database enforces)

Schema 3: Provenance record

Instrument reference: Part 4, sections 14-16. Status: Running - the table below is the production structure, fields named as deployed; the one class-C field (the signature) is demonstrated by a running reference implementation at git.meanwhile.computer.

Field Type Required Status Meaning
record_type selection: summary / entity / source yes Running What kind of provenance claim this is
model text (identifier/version) yes Running The trained model involved (s15 minimum)
capability text (identifier) at class C Running The separable capability component (s15, class C)
source_ref text - Running The input span, document or tool response drawn on
captured_value text - Running What was captured, verbatim
data_hash hash yes Running Integrity: the record can show the captured value is unaltered
captured_at timestamp yes Running -
intent_ref link - Running The request context that occasioned the inference
signature cryptographic signature at class C Running ref. impl. The upgrade from declarative to verifiable (s16): the record signed such that a non-trusting party can check it - the subject of the published capability-licensing research, whose reference implementation runs at git.meanwhile.computer

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.

Schema 4: Mandate package

Instrument reference: Part 3, sections 11-13. Status: Running reference implementation - the mandate mechanism (grant binding, time-bound decryption, revocation state) runs as published reference code at git.meanwhile.computer; the generalised schema below is the canonical form for adoption.

Field Type Required Meaning
grant_ref link to consent grant yes The grant this data travels under (s11)
payload encrypted data yes The data itself, protected under the grantor's keys at class C (s12)
scope_digest hash of elements (a)-(e) yes The grant's terms, resolvable from the package without a round-trip
revocation_state selection: active / advisory-revoked / access-gated / erased yes Current state, checkable before any use (s24)
window period yes Time-bound decryption: outside the window the payload does not decrypt (design: secure-timestamp bound)
access_log_ref link for compelled access Section 25's audit trail

Reading the four together: schemas 1-3 exist because the pattern was needed for real work before any policy required it; schema 4 exists because the first three make it the obvious next structure. A drafter can cite the tables; an implementer can build from them; a sceptic can note precisely which columns are running and which are proposed, because the annex just told them.


Written with model assistance. Read and edited by a human - though I'm not an editor, so tell me what I've missed: send me a note. Field names marked Running are as deployed; corrections from implementers are the most valuable kind.

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


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