Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – Deputy Speaker, I rise to speak to this matter of public importance and acknowledge the contribution of my colleague, Ms Badger, because this is such an interesting and critical issue in our future. As Ms Badger said, this has been described as a global gold rush and some of the places where these data centres are entering into are being described as a little bit like the wild west. When it comes to we Greens, the questions we ask and the scrutiny we place on this, we are driven by public interest. We are driven by the public benefit test. We are going to continue to ask questions about this because that is what drives us. We are not oppositional to this industry and this issue. We recognise that the digital world is growing and we need to accommodate that, but that does not mean that Tasmania has to bend the rules or offer mates deals or open our door unconditionally to this kind of industry. We will be driven and we’ll be asking these questions based on the public interest test in this space.
When it comes to the rush to support emerging industries, Tasmania has form in trying to turbocharge them and be the biggest in the world, that ultimately undermines confidence and leads to the demise of those industries. There is a litany of industries that have been overcooked by growth in this state and by state capture going all the way back to colonial days. Whether you want to look at Hydro, at forestry and wood chipping, Gunns, at its pulp mill, which led to the demise of that company, the salmon industry today, or the expression of interest process for tourism, over and over again we see this government – or Tasmanian governments full stop open the door to industry and take off the shackles only for it to lead to bad outcomes for people. It leads to secrecy, state capture, subsidy and, ultimately, a loss of social licence. Our questions, therefore, are all about trying to make sure that we understand this industry properly; that there is transparency around the deals that are being done to stimulate this industry and open the door to it in Tasmania.
Last week I sat on the energy committee and asked the Acting Minister for Energy exactly these questions about Firmus and the AI datacentre up in Launceston and he would not answer the question. He completely refused to answer the questions about whether there would be non commercial power purchase agreements entered into by Hydro to facilitate Firmus in the north of the state, what kind of guardrails have been put in place around the energy demands of the business going forward, and what kind of deals are going to be done in the energy space. He completely refused to answer those questions. We concur with the member who just took his seat, Mr Winter, about the need for transparency around these kind of energy deals because they do not line up with the rhetoric that has been matched in this place and in relation to other industries over recent times. That’s when it comes to energy. Of course, there are other resources. Data centres are a resource-rich sector and a resource-extractive industry.
Water is a big one. While some of these the technology is changing – there are some oil based technologies and others new sorts are emerging, water remains a critical issue. Again, when it comes to demands of public resources, we need to understand what is going on. Before I move on to land itself, I want to raise the issue of waste. We all know the scourge of waste. We all know the scourge of digital waste. We also need to ask the question as to whether the government has a strategy in place for the emergence of this kind of industry and an approach to waste. I note that the minister who’s responsible for this industry is also the minister for Environment. We urge you to make sure that your focus and your lens is on the protection of the environment, protection of values, equally with stimulating and driving the opportunity from this industry.
Land use is another really big one because there is land use conflict and we need to understand where these AI factories are going to be located. Quite often they are going to be in places that are perfect for housing and there is a competing tension there, as well. We need to make sure there are proper regulations and assessment processes in place, and proper prioritisation in place, so that, ultimately, these data centres operate for the benefit of all Tasmanians.
