Meeting Agendas And Outcomes Relating To The Multiagency Group On Synthetic Biology And AI Held On 3 April 2025 And 26 November 2025 ​

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The Department of Home Affairs, co-chairing with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, convened an inter-agency workshop on 3 April 2025 to assess national security risks from advances in synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. The meeting brought together Commonwealth policy, regulatory, and technical specialists with minimum security clearance to: develop shared understanding of synthetic biology and biotechnology risks; evaluate whether Australia's current policy and regulatory framework adequately manages these risks across short, medium, and long-term horizons; and determine if coordinated escalation actions are required. The context noted that synthetic biology regulation was identified as an emerging issue in the 2017 Third Review of the National Gene Technology Scheme, with recent advancements in benchtop DNA synthesisers, AI, robotics, and automation significantly lowering barriers to entry for designing biological material, presenting potential dual-use risks alongside legitimate benefits.