The George Town council in Tasmania has voted 6-1 to approve plans by Australian developer Firmus to build a 288 megawatt (MW) datacentre at Long Reach, north of Launceston, despite strong community opposition and a petition with nearly 6,000 signatures.
The AI factory is planned on the former Gunns Pulp Mill site near the Tamar River. More than 300 people wrote submissions on the application, with many raising concerns about energy use, AI, or pointing to “commonwealth regulation”, according to the council’s agenda document, which said those concerns were “outside the scope” of the council’s role in deciding the application.
Council says it applied existing rules
At the heated meeting on Tuesday, speakers lined up to express objections, with many saying the council should wait until new federal rules are in place. Lorraine, a local who spoke at the meeting, pointed to the prime minister’s plans and said the council’s approval should wait.
“Last week on national TV, prime minister Anthony Albanese announced a landmark policy setting out new mandatory standards for large-scale AI datacentres to be built,” she said. “Tasmania is part of Australia, and we deserve to be protected too.”
Councillors said they had to apply the law as it is today, not waiting for future rules. “This is probably one of my hardest decisions while I’ve been on council in the last four years,” councillor Heather Ashley said. “We’ve talked about this a lot … but as a planning authority, we have guidelines and we can’t go over those guidelines.”
Councillor Winston Mason said each councillor had been “very reluctant” to make the decision. “But as has been said a hundred times, it’s a decision that we have to make under planning rules and regulations. So that’s it.”
Federal framework announced
On Wednesday, Albanese announced after national cabinet that the government would legislate from early next year a nationally consistent regulatory framework setting minimum requirements for large datacentres. The federal government plans to work with states and territories on consistent mandatory standards on energy, water and land use, but the communique stated that the legislation “will be designed to complement, not duplicate” state and territory planning and approval processes.
The day before Albanese secured agreement with states and territories to develop national datacentre standards, the George Town council was grappling with existing regulations in the face of community opposition.
Appeals and industry response
People who raised objections to the proposal will have 14 days from Tuesday to appeal against the decision. Anne-Marie Bastian, who began the Change.org petition against the datacentre, said it was likely to be appealed by multiple residents.
“There’s plenty in the community that are pissed off right now,” she told Guardian Australia. “Their concerns were totally dismissed.” “The council totally copped out.”
A spokesperson for Firmus welcomed the council’s decision and said the project would now progress through design, procurement and construction planning. Firmus co-founder Oliver Curtis said the company supported the national expectations for datacentres and the standards behind them.
“Operators should be able to demonstrate how they are supporting the energy system, using water responsibly, choosing appropriate locations and delivering real benefits to the communities that host them,” he said. “Our AI factories are purpose-built and holistically designed to improve energy efficiency and minimise water use.”
Ahead of the new rules being legislated, there is a steady stream of datacentre plans coming in to state and territory authorities for review. The Australian Energy Market Operator said in its report this week that there were 225 datacentres in development across the country.
The Greens senator and chair of the federal parliament’s datacentres inquiry, Sarah Hanson-Young, said there should be a moratorium on new AI datacentres until the rules are in place. “These companies are already bulls at a gate, pushing state governments to give them approval,” she said. “They’re already railroading communities across the country … [We need] either a moratorium or the laws are going to have to be retrospective.”
While the rules may be tighter under the federal plan, some are running into hurdles under the existing regime. Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority this week issued its first ever objection to a datacentre in the state, opposing the application by Zerra DC to turn the former Ford factory at Campbellfield in Melbourne’s north into a $1.1bn, 366MW datacentre campus. A spokesperson for the EPA noted it was ultimately for the minister for planning to make a decision, but EPA Victoria objected over “concerns over potential noise risks and the cumulative impacts associated with the overall site layout and development”. The EPA said if an amended or new application is lodged, then it would be reassessed. A Zerra DC spokesperson said the company welcomed the feedback and was working through it with specialist acoustic consultants.
