Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Honourable Speaker, I move –
That the House takes note of the following matter: AI factories and datacentres.
This is an important topic because the rapid nature that we’re seeing this industry expand upon us and how we have to respond to that collectively from all levels of government, across all the political divides is exceptionally important. This is going to be one of the most important, crucial conversations that we as elected members making legislation are going to be having in our time.
It was a bit disappointing to see that the Premier couldn’t give us clear answers and instead chose to politically attack us, because we’re not in opposition. We’re asking for clarity. We’re asking for a direction so that it can be clear to all Tasmanians who are a part of the AI and data centre changes. I want to make it very clear that the Tasmanian Greens do support the ethical use of AI and AI factories and data centres that can produce authentically clean, green and connected Tasmanian communities, and that if we see these centres rolled out and AI facilities that they’re done so at an appropriate island-scale for Tasmania.
It is good that the Premier is speaking about how it’s going to increase the revenue for our state. That’s great. Elaborate on that. Tell us how. We have a conversation at a federal level that this is an extractive industry. Firmus, who are the biggest company coming into Tasmania at this point in time, call themselves ‘essentially mining’ and that’s their description. That’s fine. How, are we going to tax these billionaires? How’s that going to work from both a federal and a state level? These are conversations that we have to be having to ensure that our Tasmanian communities and communities right across Australia are put front and centre to benefit from what is coming forward and are not being put second to the big companies.
At the moment, due to a lack of regulation and legislation across the country, again from a federal and state level, Australia is being called the Wild West for the roll out of these centres and that’s not good enough. We have to see that changed to protect the resources that we have. We cannot forget that we are in a climate and biodiversity crisis where water and energy is crucial and we have to ensure that they are for our communities first and foremost.
I want to make it clear, because the AI conversation is difficult and we’ve spoken so much, as I said before, about the ethics and the humane use of AI and how we roll that out, but there is also the planning aspect to it. It’s very easy when you pull out your phone to forget that that digital infrastructure actually has a physical footprint somewhere that is extracting resources that we also need to be regulating and controlling.
When we asked the Premier what regulation and legislation we have in Tasmania, that’s done so because it’s been since 2018, the Office of the Coordinator General has been encouraging AI facilities and data centres to come to our state. That’s eight years ago. You would think in eight years that we would have given some thought to what parameters would need to be in place to make this industry good for Tasmanian communities. That hasn’t happened.
What we saw in July during the election was the Premier have an agreement with Firmus up in Launceston for their facility to give them what they needed. It has not been made clear what they need or what the Premier may or may not have given them, which is why it’s integral that we ask this question because it is important for transparency that Tasmanians know what we are signing up to because these are our resources as well.
It is important that as we’re seeing these centres roll out, that the amount of energy that they are collectively going to be using, however that is – and I note there’s new guidelines from the federal government that are going to impact the energy that they use and how so – but it has to be transparent to Tasmanians how much energy collectively it’s going to be using, how much water. All of this should be displayed on a government website, and it must be in the future. We are not quite at that point yet, but this government has to have that digital infrastructure set up so that we can do into the future.
On a radio interview yesterday, the CEO of Firmus was talking about their project, their deal with Hydro, for 104 megawatts to be exact, and the many jobs that Firmus was going to be creating. We know that they’re going to have lots of jobs in the construction stage, but their own project says 10 ongoing. They talk about other programs where more jobs could be created. That’s fantastic to hear, but what exactly are they and how is that going to be rolled out?
In his address, the Premier talked about fully embracing AI and then in the next breath talked about cutting public service jobs. We have had questions and I’m sure the opposition and other members have as well. How many of those jobs are going to go to AI? What’s the plan in terms of that rollout through the public service as well?
There is a lot that we need to do very urgently and I trust that this government will start taking this seriously. Certainly we’re seeing the federal government step up, and I note it is predominantly their responsibility in terms of holding digital platforms accountable for the ethical use, but it is this government’s responsibility to ensure that AI data centres and facilities in Tasmania protect Tasmanian communities.
