Senate Environment and Communications References Committee - Melbourne, VIC (part 2 of 2)
23 September 2026
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Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Australian Parliament
00:00 - 02:19
Speaker 3
Thousands of submissions. Very passionate about data centers. GetUp is not opposed to data centers, but we are opposed to a boom that is led by industry and copies the mistakes of past resource booms, where the benefits flow offshore while the costs are paid by everyday Australians. The costs of expanding data centers at the scale now being proposed are enormous, and they reach into almost every part of daily life. Unlike past resource booms, this one will affect households directly through power bills, and if not managed correctly, will compete with us for drinking water, put pressure on power bills, and push up emissions that we've spent years bringing down and we've just finally seen the electricity grid actually reduce.
Sydney Water projects data centers could draw up to a quarter of Sydney's water supply by 2035. Even under the government's current renewable energy offset plan, electricity prices and emissions could still grow, especially if operators are given years before they must source their power from genuinely new renewable projects. The economic benefits of this boom are also less certain than they first appear. There are lots of jobs in the initial construction of data centers, but once they're built, data centers are not a very large employer. In Ireland in 2025, data centers used about 23% of electricity, but they only provided a few thousand direct jobs.
It's important that we make sure they actually pay tax here as well. So for example, Microsoft's local data center business paid no tax in 22-23, despite $1.1 billion of revenue. We've also seen this with other industries, with Adani paying zero corporate tax on billions of dollars of coal it has exported in the last four years, so we can see that this is a bit of a trend. The government has acknowledged these risks, and legislation is expected in early 2027, but the details will decide whether this boom works for us or against us. Every approval granted before then could potentially lock in power, then land and water usage on operators' terms, not our terms.
Our members have signed on to a submission recommending five things: pausing new approvals until enforceable national standards are in place, requiring 100% new renewable generation with no new gas built to serve data centers even for firming, cap water usage and set binding efficiency standards, give communities a genuine say and end fast-track planning, and introduce a binding minimum tax so companies profiting from Australian land, energy and water pay their fair share.
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