STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens) (13:34): AI is bad for our neighbourhoods, bad for our climate and bad for our wallets. In terrifying headlines today, the world may end, thanks to an AI takeover. But here's the kicker: we also get to pay more for the energy that AI will use to power our demise.

Data centres are on track to consume as much power as every home in New South Wales and Victoria by 2036. Without proper regulation and a commitment to use renewable energy to power them, these data centres could raise your power bills by 25 per cent—all this to power unchecked AI expansion that some experts say has a 10 per cent chance of ending humanity. If we don't take the time now to get this right, there will be serious consequences for our energy grid, for our water, for our environment, for our climate and for us as a species.

It's clear this government hasn't worked out how to regulate AI or data centres. Without regulation, AI has become a big tech free-for-all. The winners?

The billionaires, as always. The losers? You—ordinary Australians.

In the US, we've seen that Trump is rolling out the red carpet for AI and for more fossil fuels to power them. There are plans for more than 70 gas fired power plants just for new data centres. AI companies are desperately seeking new territory to build the data centres that they need to train and run their AI models, and now they've set their sights on Australia.

We cannot follow Trump down another rabbit hole—this time on AI. We need a moratorium on data centres right now. Without one, we are sleepwalking into an AI catastrophe.

It is time for this government to stop folding to big tech, to stop folding to the fossil fuel industry and to start acting in the interests of everyday Australians.