David Hazlehurst,head of Services Australia,which is responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare,Centrelink and child support payments,said the agency would use AI and automated decision-making technology to help cut costs and get payments to people more efficiently.

“AI could be used to identify patterns and anomalies in data,strengthening the agency’s ability to detect and act on emerging fraud patterns,” Hazlehurst said.

“This would support the agency to proactively detect fraud and organised crime,particularly as the sophistication of criminal activity grows.

“Human oversight and accountability in the use of automation and AI is a key consideration. A skilled human will be retained in critical stages of AI-enabled processes,from design through to implementation and monitoring.”

Hazlehurst revealed that Services Australia had already used automated technology systems to update the status of JobSeeker claims’ future appointments,saving 6566 staff hours a year.

Services Australia was at the centre of the robo-debt controversy,which has cost taxpayers almost $2.5 billion in compensation,repayments and cancelled debts.

Hazlehurst said the agency wanted to glean more information from the Tax Office so that people had to supply information only once,rather than on multiple occasions.

“A key challenge for the agency is administering legislation that is complex and often inconsistent,hindering a digitally enabled service environment,information sharing and automated decision-making,” he said.

Foreign investors have raised concerns about problems with the nation’s foreign investment rules,which have been tightened on security grounds in recent years,while thresholds for the consideration of certain farm land purchases have remained unaltered.

Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson said that allowing more low-risk applications for foreign investment to be considered by Treasury officials rather than the full Foreign Investment Review Board would ensure many more are processed within 30 days.

She revealed the department was looking at changes to streamline low-risk approvals,while strengthening appraisals of investments considered high-risk.

“In the longer term,reforms to the legislative framework for foreign investment are necessary to ensure it is fit-for-purpose in balancing the need to enable investment while managing risks to national security,” she said.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed it had culled more than 9240 pages of regulation since the start of the year in what it says is an effort to make regulation clearer and easier to navigate.

Tax Commissioner Rob Heferen revealed the ATO had started a review of compliance costs to determine the impact of its rules and regulations on the average taxpayer.

He said a process already under way to overhaul how trustees and beneficiaries report to the Tax Office was likely to deliver $20 million a year in red tape savings.

The Fair Work Commission is another agency or department looking to use AI and technology to reduce costs and fast-track operations.

Last financial year,it received more than 20,000 unfair dismissal claims.

In most cases,small- and medium-sized businesses do not have dedicated human resources staff to deal with such claims. Those firms then largely use outside legal businesses to deal with the commission.

The commission said it was looking to set up a digital system that would help employees and businesses deal with unfair dismissal cases,including negotiated settlements between parties.

Chalmers on Friday wrote to the Council of Financial Regulators,which includes the Reserve Bank,ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority,seeking a “deep dive” on financial sector red tape.

Chalmers and Gallagher signalled that not all proposals would be adopted,but they said they would help to declutter the nation’s regulatory system.

“We won’t always agree with every suggestion,but we will give them careful consideration,” they said. “The ideas will inform more targeted engagement with industry and regulators to identify priority areas.”

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