When data centre developer Goodman Group held a series of “consultation” webinars on its latest North Shore development, Lane Cove residents joined to find their microphones disabled, unable to ask the questions they wanted.
And when the same residents attempted to organise a community meeting to have a face-to-face discussion, the developer refused to attend.
On Tuesday morning, the company was finally forced to answer some hard questions, as it faced a federal senate committee public hearing in Lane Cove.
What happened: The national debate around data centres and AI has once again found itself in the North Shore, with the first of three public hearings into the Australian AI boom hosted at Lane Cove’s Waterview Community Centre on Tuesday.
The inquiry, headed by senators David Pocock (Independent), Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens), Sarah Henderson (Liberal) and Varun Ghosh (Labor) heard from locals, scientists, mayors and academics, as well as the representatives of two North Shore data centre developers: Airtrunk and Goodman Group.
Local voices ignored: Lane Cove local Paul Trainor told the hearing his community understood the need for data centres in Australia, but felt they were being left out of the planning process.
“Australians should not have to fight these developments on a project by project basis… we need nationally consistent rules”.
“How can a hyperscale data centre be proposed just 16 metres away from homes”, he said of the proposed Goodman data centre in Lane Cove West.
Kar Yee Chiu, representing the Voices of Bennelong group, expressed concern on what she called “regulatory gaps” on data centre development.
“At a time when we ought to be reducing our emissions and be more judicious about resources in the face of increasing climate risks, we are waving through projects that put our path to net zero at risk”.
Nathalie Swainston, who had travelled to Lane Cove from Moss Vale — where a 700MW gas-powered data centre has been proposed — lamented the fact that criticism of these projects often fell to residents. She told the committee that opposition to her local data centre proposal began in a local mum’s WhatsApp group.
“Parents and grandparents across the country are spending time that belongs to our families reading Environmental Impact Statements and drafting objections at the kitchen table”.
Developers up: When it came time for data centre companies to face the committee, they endured a grilling from Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, who took aim at Goodman Group’s plan for its Project Mars Lane Cove data centre. She called the project “grossly irresponsible”.
“Can you confirm you are prepared to withdraw this plan, which, frankly, treats local communities with contempt?” asked Henderson.
Ben McGilp — the general manager of developments at Goodman — would not confirm as much, but said the company would have “a decision” on the project by the end of the year.
“Clearly we’ve got a difference of opinion in Lane Cove with our community, and it’s something that sits uncomfortably with us,” said McGilp, adding Goodman had “work to do” regarding the social license of the Lane Cove data centre.
Tom MacKellar, Vice President of origination & market expansion at Airtrunk, faces the committee.
Connectivity: Internet issues, however, marred the questioning of the developers.
Goodman Group chose to appear at the hearing remotely — something Senator Hanson-Young expressed frustration at — and internet connection dropped out at a number of crucial moments. If data centre companies are meant to be our new technocratic overlords, they are certainly not immune to basic technical difficulties.
Rising emissions: Lane Cove Councillor Kathy Bryla expressed concern that the huge energy demands of data centres threatened to undo the work local communities had put into reducing their own emissions.
“This has an accumulative effect — in fact, just even one of them — wipes out any chance of us getting there”.
Speaking on behalf of all North Shore councils, Willoughby Mayor Tanya Taylor told the hearing they were concerned federal and state rules were not being implemented fast enough, and would not be applied retrospectively.
How does that work: Data centres use electricity and, in theory, can be run on 100 percent clean energy. The problem is that our electricity grid is not yet clean.
While around half of the electricity in NSW comes from solar, wind and hydro projects, half is still powered by coal and gas. Australia is shooting for the grid to be powered by 82 percent renewables by 2030.
In the meantime, if the rate at which data centres are built outpaces the roll-out of new renewable energy, it means more coal and gas burnt. According to projections from the Climate Change Authority, the Australian government’s scientific and economic advisors on how to cut emissions, this is currently what is happening.
What now: To prevent this, all Australian states except Queensland and the Northern Territory have agreed they will force developers to build new, renewable energy when they build new data centres. Guidelines for New South Wales, released last month, do not give any indication as to whether these rules will be applied retrospectively.
Regardless of what exact regulations are enforced, it will be at the very least months before anything is legislated. Senator Hanson-Young said that Australia either needed a pause on all data centre development, or a commitment that these rules would be applied retrospectively.
“The federal government’s announcement around these standards are all for rules to govern what comes next… these data factories are being built at warp speed, right now”.