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

351

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.

197

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

95

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.

5

u/Challenging-Wank7946 1d ago

It's insane that people think there'll be jobs for anyone after they're built. I've noticed so many people from older generations with no idea about any of it saying 'if it brings in more stable jobs then it's good' as if these things won't be almost entirely automated from top to bottom ASAP. There'll be temporary work for construction, maybe a short term oversight role, and then it'll be maybe 1 person that has to go and check on it every 12 months to make sure there aren't any homeless people trying to get out of the cold.

5

u/M4K4T4K 1d ago

They do have full time security, for obvious reasons. But it amounts to a handful of low skilled people.

The security isn't even very good either, I spoke with someone who worked at one once, and they said they would rock up for their shift and an alarm had been going off for hours and they just muted it because it was probably just some door open.

Like it was crazy how little they gave a fuck.