Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
Minister, the AI data factory developer your government has attached itself to has fled the Australian Stock Exchange with its tail between its legs after an embarrassing attempt to list the wildly overvalued company. Through its failed IPO, Firmus has been exposed for the smoke and mirrors corporation it is. Investors seem to see what your government could not when it signed over our energy, water, land and landscapes to Firmus, selling out communities from Launceston to George Town and Wesley Vale. Minister, considering the serious risk to the state this highlights – that is attaching yourself to a smoke and mirrors company – what is your response to Firmus’s humiliating failure to attract investor interest? Further, given that Firmus and its former partner CDC Data Centres have parted ways on Project Southgate, will you contact Firmus and ask them to take the Tasmanian government logo off their website for that project?
ANSWER
I note there was plenty of invective in the question, and its characterisations of Firmus this, that and the other. I won’t be drawn into any of those types of things.
Ms O’Connor – Well, you tell me what part I got wrong. Tell me what I got wrong.
Mr DUIGAN – I won’t be engaging in any of that. I think I will continue to reiterate that, as a government, we welcome investment in Tasmania. Tasmania has a number of things that make it an attractive destination for AI infrastructure. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone. I believe Firmus plans to continue its Tasmanian developments, and negotiations between it and Hydro, continue as I understand it.
Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
What you describe as invective, I say are statements of fact. Minister, on what basis does Firmus use a symbol of the crown, that is the Tasmanian government logo, on its Project Southgate website? Particularly given that its major partner in that project has walked away from its relationship with Firmus. Do you think it’s acceptable that a symbol of the crown, the state of Tasmania, is being used by a data centre that has failed on the stock market and is run by a person who’s convicted of fraud? Do you think it’s appropriate that the crown allows its symbol to be used on that website?
ANSWER
Again, I reiterate that I don’t intend to get drawn into any of that sort of commentary, as offered up by the member for Hobart. I don’t believe any of that is a question for the Energy portfolio.
