Tuesday, 28 July 2026

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (13:18): AI data centres are the great big gas rip-off 2.0. For decades we have let fossil fuel giants rip up our land and our oceans, make trillions shipping our gas overseas and pay next to nothing in tax. Other countries do not let this happen. Countries like Norway tax fossil fuel profits at higher rates and then put that money back into schools and hospitals for their people. But not Australia – no, we virtually give our gas away to an industry that employs fewer people than Bunnings. Now the Labor government is about to repeat this exact same playbook, but this time with AI data centres. Victorian Labor is rolling out the red carpet for these data centres, but what that means is that we gift these overseas tech companies, these giants, our water, our energy and our land that is meant for housing. And what do we get in return? Very little. Data centres create barely any jobs post construction, they pay next to no tax and they send their profits offshore. Right now data centres are allowed to drain our water and our energy grids, pushing up energy bills and building diesel and gas generators rather than adding to our renewable energy supply. It is communities who are the ones who suffer. In West Footscray families are living with fumes from petrol generators, constant power outages and humming noises. It is unacceptable.