Digital Workplace Reform Must Put Women’s Safety First

The NSW Government has passed significant amendments to workplace safety legislation through the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2025. The reforms bring artificial intelligence, algorithmic management systems and automated decision making tools squarely into the regulatory framework of workplace health and safety.

At Women in AI Australia, we recognise why this matters. Digital systems now allocate shifts, measure productivity, rank performance, track movement and influence employment decisions. When poorly designed or left unchecked, these systems can intensify workloads, embed bias, create psychosocial harm and strip workers of transparency.

Modern workplace safety law must evolve with modern technology. But as digital governance expands, so too must the safeguards.

Access to Digital Systems Is Access to Power

One of the most debated elements of the legislation is the expansion of workplace entry rights to include digital systems. Permit holders may, in certain circumstances, require assistance to inspect digital work systems where there is a suspected safety breach. The intention is to ensure that harm caused by algorithms or AI systems can be properly investigated.

However, digital systems are not abstract. They often contain highly sensitive information including payroll data, HR files, communication records, health disclosures and other deeply personal material. In an era where data is both valuable and vulnerable, access must be carefully controlled.

Why Women’s Safety Must Be Part of This Conversation

Technology facilitated abuse is a growing and well documented reality. Digital tools, including workplace systems, can be used to monitor, intimidate or exert coercive control. For women experiencing domestic and family violence, employment records, payroll information and internal communication systems may contain information that, if mishandled, could increase risk. This is not a hypothetical concern.

Women in AI Australia works across sectors where we see firsthand how digital infrastructure can either empower or endanger. When legislation enables broader access to digital systems, even with protective intent, we must ensure that safeguards are robust enough to prevent unintended consequences.

Worker safety and women’s safety are not competing priorities. They must be designed together.

What We Are Calling For

Women in AI Australia supports strong regulation of AI and digital work systems to prevent harm. However, we are calling for enhanced safeguards in the implementation of these reforms to ensure women’s safety remains central. Specifically, we advocate for:

1. Strict Data Boundaries

Access to digital systems must be limited to functionality and system-level safety assessment — not individual employee records unrelated to safety risks.

2. Independent Oversight

Clear logging, reporting and review mechanisms should accompany any digital inspection to prevent misuse or overreach.

3. Privacy and Cybersecurity Protocols

Before digital access provisions are operationalised, minimum cybersecurity standards must be met to protect sensitive information.

4. Gendered Risk Assessments

Policy frameworks should formally assess how expanded digital access intersects with domestic violence risk, coercive control and technology-facilitated abuse.

Designing Digital Regulation for the Real World

AI governance cannot exist in a vacuum. When we regulate digital systems, we are regulating ecosystems of data, relationships and power. Good policy anticipates misuse, not just intended use. The Digital Work Systems reforms are a step toward modernising workplace safety in the age of AI. But their success will depend on how carefully safeguards are designed and implemented.

Women in AI Australia believes that protecting workers from unsafe algorithms and protecting women from digital harm must go hand in hand. The future of work will be digital. The future of safety must be intelligent, inclusive and gender aware.

Women in AI Australia will continue engaging with policymakers, industry and civil society to ensure that digital regulation strengthens both innovation and safety, without compromising privacy, security or women’s wellbeing.