The Victorian Greens have called for Labor's Development Facilitation Program (DFP) to be scrapped, after plans emerged for a $1.5 billion hyperscale data centre in Spotswood that would consume more electricity than a regional city.
The proposed facility would draw 240 megawatts of power- equivalent to around 250,000 Victorian homes- and store four million litres of fuel for backup generators. Parts of the facility would reach five storeys, with the site just 60 metres from a kindergarten.
Despite the project's extraordinary scale and its potential to fundamentally change the liveability of the surrounding neighbourhood, Labor is fast-tracking it through the DFP, bypassing the local council and leaving the final decision with the Planning Minister.
Almost 2,000 people have already signed a petition opposing the proposal, with Spotswood residents organising against the impacts on noise, traffic, air quality, contaminated soil and their neighbourhood.
The Greens say the criteria for the DFP are so broad it is farcical, and developers are using it to bypass normal planning processes and secure fast-tracked decisions without adequate community scrutiny and for no demonstrable community benefit.
The Carroll Government says it is finalising new rules for the data centre sector to be announced in coming weeks. The Greens last week wrote to AI Minister Anthony Carbines demanding, at a bare minimum, an immediate moratorium until enforceable safeguards are legislated, exclusion zones protecting green wedges and other significant land, and a levy on data centre corporations to compensate affected residents and fund community protections.
As stated by Victorian Greens AI and data centres spokesperson Dr Sarah Mansfield:
"Labor's data centre free-for-all shows the Development Facilitation Program is a joke.
"Labor is rolling out the red carpet for tech billionaires while steamrolling the local communities forced to live with the consequences.
"A project that would consume more power than a regional city, store four million litres of fuel and sit metres from homes and a kindergarten is being pushed through Labor's special fast-track pipeline. Communities and councils don't even get a say. It is beyond the pale.
"The Greens back Spotswood residents and every other community being totally disregarded by Labor, and will keep fighting for an end to this data centre free-for-all."
