{"id":39642,"date":"2026-06-25T07:45:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=39642"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:45:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:45:49","slug":"greens-call-for-a-moratorium-on-the-building-and-approval-of-data-centres-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/greens-call-for-a-moratorium-on-the-building-and-approval-of-data-centres-in-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Greens call for a moratorium on the building and approval of data centres in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Senator for SA and Chair of the parliamentary inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres, Sarah Hanson-Young:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe big AI companies are getting their hooks into governments at all levels and we need a pause to allow time for public consultation and proper parliamentary scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need a moratorium on the building and approval of new data centres in Australia until we get the regulations right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday we have seen the SA Malinauskaus Government show they are prepared to sell out South Australia\u2019s clean energy reputation to build more energy sucking data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe SA Government\u2019s announcement is nothing more than greenwashing, talking up renewables without delivering any commitment to power the new data centres with renewable energy. Their gas mates at Santos are no doubt lining up to \u2018bring new energy supply online\u2019 keeping polluting fossil fuels in the system even longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need a real plan to protect our drinking water and precious River Murray. As the driest state on the driest continent we cannot just hand our water over to big tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMeanwhile in Canberra, Industry Minister Tim Ayres failed to rule out doing a deal with AI companies allowing them to have an exception to copyright laws. This would sell out Australian artists and creative industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are sleep walking into an AI crisis. Until Australia\u2019s laws are up to the task of regulating the big tech bros and their power-hungry data centres, they should not be given the greenlight to drain our power and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe failed to regulate the big social media companies and are now seeing the massive harm that they can cause. We cannot make the same mistakes with AI companies. Governments must regulate this industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPower hungry data centres are going to be a massive setback in the country\u2019s renewable energy transition. This will eclipse all the work, particularly done by South Australians, to install rooftop solar and build a grid based almost wholly on renewables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUntil we have proper regulations for the use of energy and precious water and proper protections for Australian artists and businesses we cannot allow a tech bro free for all. Until the necessary safeguards are in place and Australia\u2019s resources are protected, approval and development must be paused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSubmissions to the Senate inquiry into data centres are currently open. This inquiry will bring some much needed parliamentary scrutiny to this rapidly growing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senator for SA and Chair of the parliamentary inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres, Sarah Hanson-Young: \u201cThe big AI companies are getting their hooks into governments at all levels and we need a pause to allow time for public consultation and proper parliamentary scrutiny. \u201cWe need a moratorium on the building and approval of &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/greens-call-for-a-moratorium-on-the-building-and-approval-of-data-centres-in-australia\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Greens call for a moratorium on the building and approval of data centres in Australia&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39643,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39642\/revisions\/39643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}