Tuesday, 28 July 2026

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (14:15): Labor must stop rolling out the red carpet for a frenzy of new AI data centres without clear rules to protect people, water and the climate. These are power-hungry, water-hungry industrial developments, and increasingly they are built to serve some of the biggest tech corporations in the world. For our local communities they can mean more trucks, noise and air pollution, and for our environment they mean pressure on already stressed rivers, creeks and drinking water supplies. At the same time these centres risk locking Victoria into coal and gas power for longer, just when we should be accelerating the shift to clean energy. No community should be asked to carry the local impacts while big tech profits are being made and households are facing pressure on energy bills. The Greens are calling for a moratorium on new AI data centres until proper safeguards are in place, and that means strict environment and water standards. It means requiring 100 per cent renewable energy and banning gas and diesel backup generators. It means protecting First Nations cultural heritage from these developments, with free, prior and informed consent, and it means genuine community consultation, not fast-tracked approvals behind closed doors. Victoria needs a plan for AI that protects workers, artists, personal data, communities and the climate. Until then, people and the planet have to come before big tech profits.