Albanese to seek state cooperation on data centres but faces fight with Queensland

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Anthony Albanese will outline to national cabinet on Wednesday proposed national legislation for conditions and guardrails around data centres – but faces a fight with Queensland.

The legislation covers conditions on sources of energy and water and the locations of centres.

It will also set conditions for AI model training in relation to copyright, security, safety and skills development.

Among the minimum obligations the commonwealth will impose are that centres:

• must not place upwards pressure on energy prices and must make a positive contribution to Australia’s energy transition

• use innovative, efficient and sustainable solutions to minimise water use, meet infrastructure costs and support transparent reporting on consumption and performance

• and minimise community impacts and be appropriate for their size, function and infrastructure requirements, avoiding inappropriate locations near homes, schools and prime agricultural land for potential housing sites.

The Commonwealth and Queensland’s Liberal and National Party government are at odds over the federal government’s insistence that new centres be tied to new renewable energy projects. Queensland is resisting the plan that coal and gas be excluded.

Energy minister Chris Bowen said at the weekend the federal government was “not going to let Queensland run a race to the bottom, which would see energy bills go up, reliability go down, because they want data centres at any cost”.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor said on Monday the Coalition was “absolutely neutral” about fuel sources.

“We won’t be picking the fuel source. That should be done by people who actually are paying for it and building it. This is the problem with Labor. Chris Bowen has managed to drive electricity prices up by 40% and send industry offshore because he thinks he knows best.”

In a Tuesday speech to the Business Council’s annual dinner, released ahead of delivery, Albanese says Australia is strongly placed to attract data centre investment “but maintaining social license will be essential”.

“That means ensuring energy bills do not rise, water security is maintained and locations are appropriate.

"Getting this right can ensure Australia is the infrastructure partner for our region, aided by our status as a Five Eyes Partner.

"It will advance our national sovereignty. And it is essential for our national security, business productivity, science, innovation and resilience.”

Albanese says the objectives of all governments must be to turn Australia’s positive investment settings into a comparative advantage for the nation.

“Hosting large scale AI training data centres, and unlocking frontier AI model training, will help Australia capture a larger share of the economic value, technical capability and strategic influence of AI. As well as boost the competitiveness of our start-ups and innovative businesses.”

He says it’s important to establish conditions to attract investment for artificial intelligence training so it is developed safely and in ways that protect copyright, ensuring payment and control to the creative sector.

“Australia will be the first to bring the policy response [to AI] into a single national framework, overseen by a central office, located in my own department.

"We are leading the world in developing AI best practice, just as we have in the under-16 social media ban.”

The national legislation for data centres builds on the “expectations” the federal government earlier released for these centres. There have already been discussions of various policy aspects at federal and state ministerial meetings.

Both levels of government are alive to community concerns and suspicions about large centres.

Albanese rejects calls for GST rethink

The prime minister, on his 45th visit to to Western Australia as PM, promised there would be no change in the generous deal that state receives as its share of the GST revenue.

This will further annoy premiers from the eastern states, especially NSW Premier Chris Minns.

The Productivity Commission recently urged the deal, that dates from the days of then prime minister Scott Morrison, be scrapped.

But Albanese told a news conference he was not changing his position: “Well, I’ve said it multiple times. I’ve signed people’s body parts, for goodness sake.”

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.