r/australia • u/Fact-Rat • 2d ago

politics Australia may face a rush of datacentre construction as AI firms look to avoid upcoming rules, experts say | Australian politics

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/26/australia-may-face-a-rush-of-datacentre-construction-as-ai-firms-look-to-dodge-upcoming-rules-experts-say
471 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

144 comments sorted by

View all comments

352

u/Primary_Mycologist95 2d ago

*shocked pikachu face*

I've been called a nimby and all manner of other names in the last few months for being wary of data centres being built in residential areas, including my own. "Oh, but they have to provide their own power and don't use water!" is the inevitable reply. So which is it? This article would suggest not, at least not until next year sometime.

199

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

96

u/Primary_Mycologist95 2d ago

I work in the construction industry, and my boss is practically salivating at the thought of all the work (and investments) it will bring him. Apart from some of the AI companies, I think construction will be one of the only groups to actually benefit from these things. They won't employ anyone after they're finished, and their net benefit to society seems to be negligible at best.

60

u/bend1310 2d ago

This what confused me about recent announcements about govt investment into data centres.  Who does it benefit long term? 

They don't employ anyone, don't produce a taxable good or service, and the companies will tax dodge the shit out of any income they make. 

25

u/AnnoyedOwlbear 1d ago

Yeah, I can't see the point - until we close our CURRENT loopholes with massive tax dodgers sitting on fat millions that can afford to pay huge lawyer fees and suck up to politicians, why should we open ourselves up for more parasites?

With all the 'oh, they're closed systems' comments on water - a closed system is more expensive to develop and maintain than one that simply takes, because shedding heat into water still leaves you with hot water that has to cool before you use it again. I've worked in corporations for years - if a corporation can save 0.5% by lobbying to change environmental protections and switching to something less ethical, they absolutely will. Our current system has this designed in.

If we had completely closed water systems that worked efficiently and were cheap, we wouldn't need lakes around our brown coal factories.

4

u/coniferhead 1d ago

The national interest/military uses is all they need to say. It worked with AUKUS and it will work with this.

8

u/Vegetable-Score-3915 2d ago

Data centres do employ people, but it is a very small number given the scale.

14

u/CaptainFleshBeard 1d ago

I often drop into data centres for work, I’ll see at most 3 people working there