Governance Templates¶
Purpose: Practical, ready-to-use templates for safe AI adoption in Australian organisations Audience: Leadership, governance, compliance and technical teams | Status: Free & open-source
Practical, open-source templates to help Australian businesses implement safe, responsible and effective AI.
These documents are designed as a baseline AI governance toolkit: they provide a set of lightweight, practical policies and forms that can be adapted to your organisation's context.
Standards Alignment
These templates support selected governance activities in the Australian Government’s Guidance for AI Adoption (AI6) and the Voluntary AI Safety Standard (VAISS, 2024). They are starting points to adapt and implement, not evidence of full conformity. Related references include:
Why Use These Templates?
- ✅ Consistency — A common set of documents reduces gaps and overlaps across projects
- ✅ Risk reduction — The templates help identify and document controls for data, security, accountability and bias risks
- ✅ Efficiency — SMEs and larger organisations alike can use these without building frameworks from scratch
- ✅ Transparency — Provides evidence of responsible AI practices to customers, partners and regulators
Current Templates¶
Time estimates are indicative. Reading, initial setup, completing an entry and implementing controls are different activities. Allow additional time for evidence gathering, consultation and approval. “Supports” identifies relevant material, not complete coverage of a guardrail.
Getting Started¶
Assesses your organisation's readiness to adopt AI safely. Covers governance, technical capability, risk management and stakeholder engagement.
- Time: 15–30 minutes to complete the checklist; allow 1–2 hours for a team discussion
- Format: Self-assessment checklist
- Supports: G1 (Accountability and governance); G2 (Risk management); G3 (System protection and data governance); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G5 (Human control); G8 (Supply-chain information sharing); G9 (Records); G10 (Stakeholder engagement and fairness)
Implementation Guides¶
Comprehensive guide to managing the organisational and cultural changes that come with AI adoption. Covers stakeholder engagement, communication, workforce planning and resistance management.
- Time: 15–20 minutes to read; plan the rollout duration for your organisation
- Format: Step-by-step guide + templates
- Supports: G1 (Accountability and governance); G10 (Stakeholder engagement and fairness)
Step-by-step guide to planning and executing AI projects from pilot to production deployment. Includes pilot sizing, success criteria, scaling decisions and ongoing monitoring.
- Time: 20–25 minutes to read; implementation follows the guide’s staged roadmap over months
- Format: Phased roadmap + decision framework
- Supports: G1 (Accountability and governance); G2 (Risk management); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G5 (Human control); G9 (Records)
Risk Management & Assurance¶
Structured way to evaluate risks before adoption.
- Time: 1-2 hours per system
- Format: Risk evaluation matrix
- Supports: G2 (Risk management); G3 (System protection and data governance); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G5 (Human control); G6 (End-user information); G7 (Challenging AI use or outcomes); G8 (Supply-chain information sharing); G10 (Stakeholder engagement and fairness)
Comprehensive register for identifying, assessing and managing AI-related risks. Integrates with broader GRC processes.
- Time: 30–45 minutes for initial register setup, with ongoing updates
- Format: Living document / database
- Supports: G2 (Risk management); G9 (Records)
Provides context-specific AI risk examples for fourteen major Australian industries to help organisations identify relevant risks for their risk register.
- Time: 10–15 minutes per industry
- Format: Reference guide by industry
- Supports: G2 (Risk management)
AI Assurance – Transparency, Auditing & Reporting
Framework for demonstrating responsible AI practices through transparency, independent audits and structured reporting.
- Time: Ongoing reporting cadence
- Format: Reporting framework + templates
- Supports: G2 (Risk management); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G6 (End-user information); G8 (Supply-chain information sharing); G9 (Records)
Policies & Forms¶
Defines how AI can and cannot be used in your organisation.
- Time: 2-4 hours to customise
- Format: Policy document template
- Supports: G1 (Accountability and governance); G3 (System protection and data governance); G5 (Human control); G6 (End-user information); G7 (Challenging AI use or outcomes)
Maintains a central record of all AI initiatives.
- Time: 30 minutes for initial register setup, with ongoing updates
- Format: Register / tracking sheet
- Supports: G1 (Accountability and governance); G2 (Risk management); G9 (Records); G10 (Stakeholder engagement and fairness)
AI Vendor Evaluation Checklist
Comprehensive framework for evaluating AI vendors including Build vs Buy guidance, critical red flags and structured evaluation across compliance, security, data governance, and Australian context.
- Time: 1–2 hours per vendor, plus time to obtain missing evidence
- Format: Evaluation matrix + decision framework
- Supports: G2 (Risk management); G3 (System protection and data governance); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G5 (Human control); G8 (Supply-chain information sharing)
Mechanism to capture, respond and learn from AI-related issues.
- Time: 10–30 minutes per report; investigation and response require additional time
- Format: Incident report form
- Supports: G2 (Risk management); G4 (Testing and monitoring); G5 (Human control); G9 (Records)
Coming Soon¶
Roadmap
Data Management & Quality Checklist To support data quality, provenance and bias checks for AI systems (Guardrail 3).
Human Oversight Plan Defines when and how human decision-making is required, including accountability and escalation paths (Guardrails 1 and 5).
AI Model Monitoring Log Template for tracking performance, fairness, drift and retraining across deployed models (Guardrails 4 and 9).
Guardrail-to-Template Mapping¶
The labels below summarise the published VAISS (2024) guardrails. A listed template supplies relevant prompts or records; it does not satisfy the whole guardrail. In particular, a policy commitment or complaint form is not a complete contestability process.
| Guardrail | Focus Area | Covered By Templates |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Accountability and governance | Ownership, governance and capability | AI Use Policy, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Change Management, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Project Register, Human Oversight Plan (coming) |
| 2. Risk management | Assessing and managing AI risks | AI Risk Assessment, AI Risk Register, AI Industry Risks, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Vendor Evaluation, AI Assurance, AI Project Register, AI Incident Report Form |
| 3. System protection and data governance | Security, data quality and provenance | AI Risk Assessment, AI Vendor Evaluation, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Use Policy, Data Management Checklist (coming) |
| 4. Testing and monitoring | Evaluation before and during use | AI Readiness Checklist, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Risk Assessment, AI Vendor Evaluation, AI Assurance, AI Incident Report Form, Model Monitoring Log (coming) |
| 5. Human control | Review, intervention and accountable decisions | AI Use Policy, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Risk Assessment, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Vendor Evaluation, AI Incident Report Form, Human Oversight Plan (coming) |
| 6. End-user information | Explaining AI interactions, decisions and content | AI Use Policy, AI Risk Assessment, AI Assurance |
| 7. Challenging AI use or outcomes | Raising concerns, review and redress | AI Use Policy and AI Risk Assessment provide starting points; an accessible challenge and response process still needs to be designed and implemented |
| 8. Supply-chain information sharing | Exchanging relevant system, model and data information | AI Vendor Evaluation, AI Risk Assessment, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Assurance |
| 9. Records | Maintaining an inventory and assessment evidence | AI Project Register, AI Risk Register, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Incident Report Form, AI Assurance, Model Monitoring Log (coming) |
| 10. Stakeholder engagement and fairness | Understanding affected groups and responding to their needs | AI Change Management, AI Readiness Checklist, AI Risk Assessment, AI Project Register; link actual engagement and follow-up records |
How to Use These Templates¶
Implementation Best Practices
Adapt locally — These are starting points. Tailor them to your organisation's size, industry and regulatory obligations.
Integrate — Templates should sit within existing governance, risk and compliance processes (e.g. risk registers, change management).
Iterate — AI is fast-moving. Review and update these documents regularly as your AI maturity grows.
Common questions:
Are these templates legally binding?
No. These are guidance templates to help you establish your own policies. You should adapt them to your context and may wish to seek legal or compliance advice before formal adoption.
Do I need all templates?
Start with the Readiness Checklist, Use Policy, and Risk Assessment. Add others as your AI program matures.
How do I know which template to use first?
Follow the "Getting Started" implementation path above, or use the Readiness Checklist to identify your specific needs.
What AI governance templates are available from SafeAI Aus?
We provide practical, Australia-focused templates including an AI Readiness Checklist, AI Change Management guide, AI Implementation Roadmap, AI Use Policy, AI Risk Assessment, AI Risk Register, AI Industry-Specific Risks, AI Incident Report, AI Vendor Evaluation Checklist, AI Project Register, and AI Assurance framework to help Australian businesses implement safe AI governance end-to-end.
Are the templates free to use and adapt?
Yes. Templates are licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0. You may copy, adapt, and use them commercially with attribution to SafeAI Aus (safeaiaus.org).
How should I attribute SafeAI Aus when I reuse a template?
Include a short notice such as: "Source: SafeAI Aus (safeaiaus.org), licensed CC BY 4.0." For PDFs or docs, place it in the header or footer; for web pages, add it near the template text.
Do these templates meet Australian regulatory expectations?
They are designed to align with widely used frameworks and Australian context. Organisations should tailor them to their size, sector, and risk profile, and confirm legal obligations for privacy, safety, and industry rules.
How do I get started with the templates?
Start with the AI Readiness Checklist to assess your organisation's preparedness. Then implement the AI Use Policy and AI Risk Assessment. Use the AI Change Management guide and AI Implementation Roadmap when planning your first project, and the AI Vendor Evaluation Checklist before procuring tools. Add the Risk Register, Incident Report, and Project Register for ongoing governance and learning.
Licence & Disclaimer
Licence: All templates are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You are free to use, adapt and share them with attribution to SafeAI-Aus (safeaiaus.org).
Disclaimer: These templates provide best practice guidance for Australian organisations. SafeAI-Aus has exercised care in preparation but does not guarantee accuracy, reliability, or completeness. Organisations should adapt to their specific context and may wish to seek advice from legal, governance, or compliance professionals before formal adoption.