MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (17:56): Against the odds, the people of Hazelmere, the Swan Valley and the wider Perth community stopped a $600 million data centre. They organised, they turned up to meetings, they got thousands of people to sign petitions, and they won. But here's the thing: this isn't just about one data centre.

Around the world, AI is driving a new extractive industry. Some of the world's biggest tech companies want to use our electricity, our water and our land to power giant data centres. The Climate Council says that electricity demand from Australian data centres could triple by 2030.

These facilities use a huge amount of power and water, and they put more pressure on our clean energy transition. Governments still don't have rules in place to manage them properly. That is simply not good enough.

No community should have to spend years taking on powerful corporations just to protect their neighbourhoods, their environment and their very future. That's why the Greens are calling for a moratorium on new data centres. Let's stop approving them until we have proper safeguards in place.

Let's make sure every project proves that it is in the public interest and is not just for corporate profit. This is about more than one data centre in Perth. It's about who government works for: the people or the corporation.