Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The data centre gold rush is on. Australia has around 250 data centres. About 40 of these are in Victoria and there's a pipeline of about $40 billion in investment. The community, however, has legitimate concerns around water, energy and jobs. Nobody wants this industry to cannibalise our resources, and we certainly do not want this industry to lose its social licence before it even begins in earnest, so the Albanese Labor government has released a statement of expectations. We expect data centres to underwrite their own new renewable energy and not just piggyback off existing projects as part of our climate targets.

This is important because in 2024-25 data centres used about two per cent of Australia's electricity, but that's projected to increase to 11 per cent by 2035. We also expect them to cover their own transmission costs and to use water carefully and efficiently. Water usage in 2025 was low; it was about 0.5 per cent of total industrial water use. We're encouraging them to recycle their water, use recycled water or non-drinking water, or reuse water in a circular fashion. This is about getting digital bang for our water buck.

Then there are the shared benefits. We are expecting them to provide jobs, like pathways for apprentices in the build-out of these facilities, and privileged access to computing power for our start-ups, which can be quite expensive for start-ups. This is how we build responsible AI, and responsible AI is ultimately sustainable AI. If data centre operators follow these expectations, they will be channelled into the fast lane; otherwise, they will end up on the road to nowhere, as far as Commonwealth approvals go.