The Victorian Greens are calling on Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny to reject all nine data centre applications currently on her desk before the government enters caretaker mode tomorrow. The call comes after revelations that more than $5 billion worth of data centre developments are awaiting ministerial decisions, including an enormous eight-storey facility in Brooklyn covering the equivalent of 11 MCGs.
The Victorian Greens say that if these are not rejected before tomorrow - it will leave all these communities in the lurch with incredible uncertainty hanging over them until after the election. Labor has the power to remove this uncertainty and reject these applications now - anything less is cowardice which puts communities at risk.
All 79 Victorian councils have now backed calls for a moratorium on new data centre approvals, amid mounting community concerns about electricity consumption, noise, pollution and the cumulative impact of developments. The proposed Brooklyn facility alone could draw as much electricity as 250,000 average Victorian homes, with 112 emergency generators and millions of litres of diesel fuel stored on site.
The Victorian Greens are calling for an immediate moratorium on new data centre approvals and meaningful compensation for residents who have been impacted by existing facilities.
As stated by Victorian Greens Leader Ellen Sandell MP:
"Sonya Kilkenny must reject all nine data centre applications on her desk before the Government enters caretaker. If Labor delays these decisions until after the election, it will be a cowardly attempt to dodge accountability and leave all these communities in the lurch, with incredible uncertainty until after the election. Victorians deserve to know what Labor intends to approve before they cast their votes.
"Every single council in Victoria is demanding a halt to data centre approvals. How much louder do communities have to shout before Labor listens?
"Labor's new data centre rules don't even apply to projects already in the pipeline. It's a loophole big enough to drive a data centre through."
As stated by Victorian Greens spokesperson for AI & Data Centres Dr Sarah Mansfield:
"Every council in Victoria is demanding a halt to data centre approvals, and communities are furious. Sonya Kilkenny needs to stop siding with developers, listen to residents and reject every single one of these nine applications.
"Labor needs to show its hand before the election. It would be an extraordinary act of political cowardice to keep Victorians in the dark, only to wave through billions of dollars in deeply unpopular data centres once the votes are counted."
