Approvals Aren’t Enough
The Victorian government recently promised data centres less regulation to woo them over from NSW, where the majority of data centres currently sit. Call it some friendly competition between states; the federal government is also canvassing tying fast-track approvals with sustainability and renewable energy benchmarks to qualify.
Rubber, Meet Road
After years of breathless hype, the government has taken the first few steps toward placing guardrails around the nascent AI industry, announcing the National AI Plan and a new institute for AI safety. Bravo.
Ghost Grids, Digital Islands
Australia is in the middle of two revolutions that should align: the clean-energy transition and the explosive growth of digital infrastructure.
They’re having a tough time talking.
Data Architecture
The digital future is about power, planning and policy. As AI models scale and data centre demand surges, their absence from our policy frameworks starts to look like a glaring miss. We urgently need a national framework that ensures growth in this industry is clean, resilient and inclusive.
Feeding The Beast
The world’s cleanest electrons and brightest minds can converge here, but not by accident. We’ve got the land, the investment, and the will to do this - but policy must account for the resource-intensity of these projects.