Data centres
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:19): (1497) My question is to the Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, represented by Mr Erdogan. Yesterday’s announcement of some modest potential data centre regulations is at least an acknowledgement of some of the issues and the risks posed by this industry, issues which Legalise Cannabis has been ridiculed by the government for raising over the last 16 months. But these measures are too little, too late for many of my constituents in the west. In the west alone, 19 data centres are apparently already assessed or in the process of being assessed and will likely go ahead – environmental vampires untouched by these proposed regulations. I ask the minister: until the proposed state and federal regulations are in place, why won’t you place a moratorium on new data centre approvals?
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:20): Thank you, Minister, for passing that on. By way of supplementary, residents of West Footscray, Spotswood and indeed many communities around Victoria have worked tirelessly to raise issues that The Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan largely glosses over. The plan makes it abundantly clear that the government has not listened to affected communities or our previous request that the plan be released as an exposure draft in the first instance. The lack of any retrospectivity or requirement on existing data centres or ones under consideration is galling. Considering that facilities like West Footscray’s NEXTDC M3 would no longer be approved under the new framework, will the Victorian government commit to working with other levels of government as well as communities to develop an appropriate amelioration and compensation framework for adversely affected residents and community services?