No paid figure stated in the government’s documents
The documents searched, published up to 7 November 2026, print no amount spent against the GovAI expansion’s $166.4 million (MYEFO 2025–26, three years from 2025–26). The Department of Finance’s 2025–26 annual report (21 October 2026) reports GovAI by use alone: more than 1,700 APS officials in the GovAI Chat trial and 12 agencies on its hosting and model-brokerage services. Finance’s answer to Senate Estimates question F294 (30 January 2026) restates the money as allocations: $28.2 million for a foundational phase from November 2025 to October 2026, and $137.9 million held in the Contingency Reserve until a business case due in November 2026. The Digital Transformation Agency’s 2025–26 annual report is not yet published. The second line, the 2024–25 Budget’s $39.9 million for safe and responsible AI, has no spending figure either: the industry department’s 2025–26 annual report describes the National AI Centre and the AI Safety Institute without amounts.
GovAI platform expansion and GovAI Chat pilot (Department of Finance and Digital Transformation Agency), APS AI Plan implementation measure, MYEFO 2025–26
A part of the programme. The budget line that funds GovAI, the Australian-hosted government AI platform the record names, inside the MYEFO 2025–26 measure that implements the APS AI Plan. It is a component: the record also covers the National AI Plan, which brings together existing funding (its largest dedicated measure is the 2024–25 Budget’s $39.9 million, the second line). MYEFO splits the $166.4 million into $28.5 million over 2025–26 and 2026–27 for initial work and assurance and $137.9 million over 2026–27 and 2027–28 provisioned in the Contingency Reserve; Finance’s answer to question F294 states the foundational phase (November 2025 to October 2026) at $28.2 million and makes release of the $137.9 million subject to a business case due in November 2026. The amount is a policy decision taken after the 2025 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook and published in MYEFO; appropriation follows through the estimates. The period is the three financial years 2025–26 to 2027–28 (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028). Finance holds responsibility for GovAI Chat and the wider platform; the DTA’s part is an assurance fee of $0.4 million over three years.
Approved by the government: the 166 million AUD three-year funding to expand the GovAI platform and pilot GovAI Chat, July 2025 to June 2028. Printed as “$166.4 million”. About $110M at the reference rate of 17 Dec 2025. $166.4 million over three years from 2025–26 for the Department of Finance and the Digital Transformation Agency to expand the GovAI platform and design, build and pilot a secure, AI assistant (GovAI Chat). Funding includes $28.5 million over two years from 2025–26 for initial work and assurance, and $137.9 million over two years from 2026–27 provisioned in the Contingency Reserve
Australian Government (Treasury and Department of Finance), Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2025–26, Appendix A: Policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO, Cross Portfolio, ‘Artificial Intelligence Plan for the Australian Public Service – implementation’, first bullet, p. 211 (PDF page 43), 17 Dec 2025
Budget estimate: 28.5 million AUD, 17 Dec 2025. Printed as “$28.5 million”. The funded part of the GovAI line (2025–26 and 2026–27), for initial work and assurance, as MYEFO states it. Finance’s answer to question F294 states the same phase as $28.2 million (next figure); both are recorded. An allocation, not spending. $166.4 million over three years from 2025–26 for the Department of Finance and the Digital Transformation Agency to expand the GovAI platform and design, build and pilot a secure, AI assistant (GovAI Chat). Funding includes $28.5 million over two years from 2025–26 for initial work and assurance, and $137.9 million over two years from 2026–27 provisioned in the Contingency Reserve
Australian Government (Treasury and Department of Finance), Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2025–26, Appendix A: Policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO, p. 211 (PDF page 43), first bullet, 17 Dec 2025
Budget estimate: 28.2 million AUD, 30 Jan 2026. Printed as “$28.2 million”. The Department of Finance’s figure for the GovAI foundational phase, November 2025 to October 2026, including AI model usage for GovAI Chat trial participants. MYEFO states this part of the line as $28.5 million over 2025–26 and 2026–27 for initial work and assurance. The same answer’s costing table prints the two foundational rows at 15.8 and 12.3 ($m) and the DTA assurance fee at 0.4, which with the 137.9 make its 166.4 total; no document explains the $28.2 million. Funding, not spending. Funding for this initiative is allocated from 2025–26 to 2027–28 in a phased approach. The foundational phase (November 2025 – October 2026) is funded at $28.2 million. This covers the establishment of core program capabilities, including the cost of AI model usage for all GovAI Chat trial participants.
Department of Finance (answer to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee), Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, Supplementary Budget Estimates 2025–26, Finance Portfolio: answer to question on notice F294 (Appendix A: GovAI Chat), Answer, part 1, p. 1, 30 Jan 2026
Budget estimate: 166 million AUD, 27 Jan 2026. Printed as “$166.1m”. The Department of Finance’s estimates brief on GovAI for the February 2026 hearings, sent to the Minister’s office on 27 January 2026 and released under FOI on 13 April 2026, gives the MYEFO funding for GovAI and GovAI Chat as $166.1m overall: $28.2 million for the foundation phase and $137.9 million for the expansion phase, held in the Contingency Reserve. MYEFO prints $166.4 million; both are recorded. Funding, not spending. Through MYEFO 2025-26, Government agreed to find GovAI and GovAI Chat for an overall total of $166.1m.
Department of Finance, Estimates brief (hot issue), Additional Estimates February 2026: GovAI (SB26-000020), released under FOI 25-26/190, Document 02, Key facts and figures, p. 2, 13 Apr 2026
Budget estimate: 15.9 million AUD, 30 Jan 2026. Printed as “15.9”. The 2025–26 column of Finance’s costing table for the GovAI line, in $m: GovAI Operational Enhancements 9.9, GovAI Chat Pilot 5.9 and the DTA assurance fee 0.1, with 69.7 for 2026–27 and 80.8 for 2027–28. The year’s allocation, not spending; actual 2025–26 expenditure on the line, when a document prints it, pairs with this figure. Total 15.9 69.7 80.8 0.0 -166.4
Department of Finance (answer to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee), Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, Supplementary Budget Estimates 2025–26, Finance Portfolio: answer to question on notice F294 (Appendix A: GovAI Chat), Answer, part 2, costing table (columns 2025–26, 2026–27, 2027–28, 2028–29, Total, in $m), ‘Total’ row, p. 2, 30 Jan 2026
Budget estimate: 138 million AUD, 17 Dec 2025. Printed as “$137.9 million”. Provisioned in the Contingency Reserve pending a further business case and mid-pilot assessment, so not yet available to the agencies. Finance’s answer to question F294 (30 January 2026) calls it the expansion phase, November 2026 to June 2028, and states that release is subject to a business case, to be delivered in November 2026. Budget 2026–27 Budget Paper No. 2 has no GovAI measure. Not spending. $166.4 million over three years from 2025–26 for the Department of Finance and the Digital Transformation Agency to expand the GovAI platform and design, build and pilot a secure, AI assistant (GovAI Chat). Funding includes $28.5 million over two years from 2025–26 for initial work and assurance, and $137.9 million over two years from 2026–27 provisioned in the Contingency Reserve
Australian Government (Treasury and Department of Finance), Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2025–26, Appendix A: Policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO, p. 211 (PDF page 43), first bullet, 17 Dec 2025
Announced: 225 million AUD, 17 Dec 2025. Printed as “$225.2 million”. The parent measure (APS AI Plan implementation, all agencies): GovAI $166.4 million, a central AI Delivery and Enablement function in Finance $28.9 million, APS capability $22.1 million, and DTA AI governance and an AI Review Committee $7.7 million. Not spending. The Government will provide $225.2 million over four years from 2025–26, and $0.4 million per year ongoing from 2029–30, to deliver the Government’s Artificial Intelligence Plan for the Australian Public Service (APS AI Plan)
Australian Government (Treasury and Department of Finance), Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2025–26, Appendix A: Policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO, Cross Portfolio, ‘Artificial Intelligence Plan for the Australian Public Service – implementation’, p. 211 (PDF page 43), 17 Dec 2025
Supporting Safe and Responsible AI (2024–25 Budget measure: National AI Centre, AI policy and capability)
A part of the programme. The measure the record cites as the National AI Plan’s government figure: policy and capability funding, including a reshaped National AI Centre within the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. The National AI Plan (2 December 2025, p. 13) lists it as $39.9 million to strengthen Australia’s AI ecosystem, including expanding the National AI Centre. It is not compute funding. The period is five financial years from 2023–24 (1 July 2023 to 30 June 2028). The department’s 2025–26 annual report (tabled 23 October 2026) describes the National AI Centre’s work and the AI Safety Institute’s launch on 1 June 2026, and its program expense tables carry no line for either.
Approved by the government: the 39.9 million AUD five-year Supporting Safe and Responsible AI measure, July 2023 to June 2028. Printed as “$39.9 million”. About $26M at the reference rate of 14 May 2024. The Government will provide $39.9 million over five years from 2023–24 for the development of policies and capability to support the adoption and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in a safe and responsible manner
Commonwealth of Australia, Budget 2024–25, Budget Paper No. 2: Budget Measures, Part 2: Payment Measures, Industry, Science and Resources, ‘Supporting Safe and Responsible AI’, p. 141 (PDF page 155), 14 May 2024
Announced: 29.8 million AUD, 17 Dec 2025. Printed as “$29.8 million”. MYEFO 2025–26 measure establishing an AI Safety Institute in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources; MYEFO says it builds on the 2024–25 measure. The department’s 2025–26 annual report records the institute’s launch on 1 June 2026 without an amount spent. Not spending. $29.8 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $7.9 million per year ongoing from 2029–30) to establish an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Institute within the Department of Industry, Science and Resources
Australian Government (Treasury and Department of Finance), Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2025–26, Appendix A: Policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO, Industry, Science and Resources, ‘Establishing an Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute’, p. 266 (PDF page 98), 17 Dec 2025
Searched, 12 places
Australian Budget papers (archive.budget.gov.au): MYEFO 2025–26 Appendix A, policy decisions taken since the 2025 PEFO (17 December 2025); Budget 2024–25 Budget Paper No. 2 (14 May 2024); Budget 2026–27 Budget Paper No. 2 (May 2026). The GovAI expansion’s $166.4 million ($28.5 million funded, $137.9 million in the Contingency Reserve) within the $225.2 million APS AI Plan measure; the AI Safety Institute’s $29.8 million; the 2024–25 Supporting Safe and Responsible AI measure’s $39.9 million. Budget 2026–27 Budget Paper No. 2 has no GovAI or National AI Plan measure. Budget papers print no actual spending by measure. Australian Budget papers (archive.budget.gov.au), 2 Nov 2026
Department of Finance annual report (finance.gov.au): Department of Finance Annual Report 2025–26 (published 21 October 2026, 248 pages): Secretary’s review, performance statements for Outcome 2, Table A3 expenses for Outcome 2 by program, financial statements. GovAI reported by use alone (p. 13: more than 1,700 APS officials in the GovAI Chat trial; 12 agencies on GovAI Hosting and Model Brokerage). Table A3 (pp. 194–196) gives expenses by program, among them Program 2.6 Delivery of Government Technology Services at $92,948 thousand actual against a $59,071 thousand budget, with no line for GovAI or the APS AI Plan. No amount spent on GovAI. Department of Finance annual report (finance.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
Finance portfolio budget statements (finance.gov.au): Finance Portfolio Budget Statements 2026–27 (May 2026); Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2025–26 (February 2026); Portfolio Supplementary Additional Estimates Statements 2025–26. The Additional Estimates Statements, Table 1.2 (p. 15), print Finance’s departmental payments for the whole APS AI Plan measure ($19,478 thousand in 2025–26) and the DTA’s share on p. 89, not the GovAI line alone. The 2026–27 Budget Statements have no GovAI line and no 2025–26 estimated actual for it; the Supplementary Additional Estimates Statements cover Services Australia alone. Finance portfolio budget statements (finance.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
GovAI (govai.gov.au): GovAI home, About, GovAI Chat, GovAI Hosting, GovAI Model Brokerage, AI Delivery and Enablement and Build pages, as published on 3 November 2026. Service descriptions; no funding or spending figure. GovAI (govai.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, estimates Hansard (aph.gov.au): Committee Hansard, Finance portfolio sections (Department of Finance and Digital Transformation Agency): Additional Estimates 9 and 10 February 2026; Budget Estimates 26, 27 and 28 May 2026; Supplementary Budget Estimates 26 and 27 October 2026. No GovAI funding or spending figure. On 27 May 2026 a Finance official gave 42 chief AI officer appointments as at 22 May, and the Minister for Finance said GovAI was being trialled. Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, estimates Hansard (aph.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, answers to questions on notice, Finance portfolio (aph.gov.au): Questions and answers, Finance portfolio: Supplementary Budget Estimates 2025–26 (hearings 1–2 December 2025), questions F257 to F307, which include the written questions on AI from F260 to F305 (F001 to F256 were not read); Additional Estimates 2025–26 (February 2026), every Department of Finance and DTA question, F001 to F149; Budget Estimates 2026–27 (26–28 May 2026), questions F001 to F343, with the full answers to F211 and F304 (AI service subscriptions) and F303 (ChatGPT and AI policies); Services Australia’s questions were not read. F294 (answered 30 January 2026) sets out the GovAI line by phase and year: $28.2 million for the foundational phase to October 2026 and $137.9 million in the Contingency Reserve pending a business case due in November 2026. F059 (DTA, answered 10 April 2026) gives the DTA’s staffing for the measure (6.5 in 2025–26, then 13 a year) and places GovAI with Finance. The May 2026 round’s AI questions (AI Review Committee, AI clauses in contracts, ChatGPT, AI service subscriptions, AI scalability, compliance with the responsible-AI policy) carry no GovAI spending; F211 (answered 21 July 2026) records 2,270 Microsoft 365 Copilot licences at Finance as at 31 May 2026 and refers staff to the GovAI Chat alpha trial, without a cost. No answer prints an amount spent. Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, answers to questions on notice, Finance portfolio (aph.gov.au), 7 Nov 2026
Senate Economics Legislation Committee, estimates Hansard, Industry, Science and Resources portfolio (aph.gov.au): Committee Hansard, Industry, Science and Resources portfolio: Additional Estimates 12 February 2026; Budget Estimates 2 and 3 June 2026; the Supplementary Budget Estimates hearing of 29 October 2026 had no published transcript on 3 November 2026. No spending figure for the National AI Centre, the AI Safety Institute or the Supporting Safe and Responsible AI measure. The Minister cited a Microsoft-backed renewable power purchase agreement of about 300 megawatts at Walla Walla, near Albury (12 February 2026). Senate Economics Legislation Committee, estimates Hansard, Industry, Science and Resources portfolio (aph.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
Department of Finance FOI disclosure log (finance.gov.au): FOI 25-26/190, Documents 01 and 02: February 2026 Additional Estimates hot-issue briefs ‘APS AI Plan’ (SB26-000027) and ‘GovAI’ (SB26-000020), released 13 April 2026; FOI 25-26/225, Documents 01 to 48: invoices for AI software, released 28 July 2026; FOI 25-26/253, Document 01: Budget Estimates May 2026 hot-issue brief ‘APS AI Plan’ (SB26-000086), released 27 July 2026. The February 2026 briefs restate the measure’s components and give GovAI and GovAI Chat an overall total of $166.1m ($28.2 million for the foundation phase, $137.9 million in the Contingency Reserve), against MYEFO’s $166.4 million. The invoices are for subscriptions to commercial AI chat services (ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Business, Claude Pro), none for GovAI. The May 2026 brief dates the GovAI Chat alpha trial from 28 April 2026 and notes memoranda of understanding with Anthropic and Microsoft. None prints an amount spent. Department of Finance FOI disclosure log (finance.gov.au), 7 Nov 2026
Digital Transformation Agency annual reports (dta.gov.au) and the Transparency Portal (transparency.gov.au): DTA Annual Reports page (last updated 9 April 2026), read on 7 November 2026; Transparency Portal annual reports for the DTA, 2018–19 to 2024–25, and the portal’s list of its 100 most recently published annual reports. The DTA’s 2025–26 annual report is not published. The DTA’s page presents the 2024–25 report, for the year ending 30 June 2025, as the current one; the portal’s DTA reports end at 2024–25, while the Department of Finance’s 2025–26 report is on the portal. Digital Transformation Agency annual reports (dta.gov.au) and the Transparency Portal (transparency.gov.au), 7 Nov 2026
Department of Industry, Science and Resources annual report (industry.gov.au): Department of Industry, Science and Resources Annual Report 2025–26 (tabled 23 October 2026, 213 pages): overview, performance statements, Program 1.1 to 1.3 expense tables. The AI Safety Institute’s launch on 1 June 2026 (pp. 3, 8 and 39); ai.gov.au, launched by the National AI Centre (p. 3); $20 million for an AI-focused Cooperative Research Centre Projects round and $50 million for a new AI Cooperative Research Centre, announced in March 2026 (p. 9); $17 million in grants for four AI Adopt Centres (p. 38). No amount spent by the National AI Centre, the AI Safety Institute or the Supporting Safe and Responsible AI measure, and no AI line in the program expense tables. Department of Industry, Science and Resources annual report (industry.gov.au), 7 Nov 2026
National AI Plan (industry.gov.au): National AI Plan (2 December 2025, 37 pages). More than $460 million in existing funding, including the $39.9 million measure (p. 13); no spending figures. Names corporate data-centre investments by Firmus, Amazon and Microsoft and Google’s subsea cables (pp. 11–12). National AI Plan (industry.gov.au), 3 Nov 2026
Australian National Audit Office (anao.gov.au): Annual audit work program, Finance portfolio page as published on 7 November 2026: potential topics for 2026–27, audits in progress, the audit of Finance’s 2025–26 annual performance statements and the portfolio’s financial statements audits. No audit of GovAI or the APS AI Plan in progress or proposed for 2026–27. The page names the GovAI platform, launched on 31 July 2025, as an example of the workforce capability that digital transformation requires. Its sections on the performance statements audit and the financial statements audits (where the DTA is a non-material entity rated low risk) carry no GovAI figure. The site’s search could not be read. Australian National Audit Office (anao.gov.au), 7 Nov 2026
Still open
The DTA’s 2025–26 annual report, when tabled, may report the DTA’s part of the measure; the DTA’s share of the GovAI line is an assurance fee of $0.4 million.
Whether the $137.9 million held in the Contingency Reserve was released after the business case due in November 2026 will show in MYEFO 2026–27.
Answers to questions on notice from the Supplementary Budget Estimates hearings of 26–27 October 2026 (Finance) and 29 October 2026 (Industry, Science and Resources) are not yet published.
Answers to the Industry, Science and Resources portfolio’s questions on notice from the February and June 2026 hearings were not read; they could print spending by the National AI Centre or the AI Safety Institute.
Why Finance states the foundational phase at $28.2 million and the line at $166.1m (its February 2026 estimates brief), where MYEFO states $28.5 million for initial work and assurance and $166.4 million in all, is unexplained.
Open Sovereign AI funding