SamZawsum

First, the Australian government HAD the opportunity to publicly condemn our AUKUS partner's actions in Iran - and the inevitable economic fall out - on day 1 (Iran having earlier announced that if attacked, it would close the Strait of Hormuz). Hubris gave rise to the US attack, cowardice to the Australian government's lack of response to that attack. Second, as Minister Marles well knows, data centres are an integral part of defence infrastructure which is precisely why they have become strategic military targets, as demonstrated in the Iran conflict. The suggestion by him not to build data centres in suburbs or near people is almost certainly because of his understanding of the adverse local impact but also because of the military/security risks associated with those sites in the event of a conflict. There are approx 160 operational data centres in the country already primarily in Sydney NSW and Melbourne Victoria, and between 90 and 225 plus additional data centre projects currently proposed, planned or under construction to support the AI and cloud computing boom, including in suburbs and populated areas. Australia does not have a federal moratorium on data centres, though the Greens, local councils, and environmental groups are actively pushing for pauses. Minister Marles is acknowledging the risks and the need for careful regulation in this @abcnews interview, so would it not make sense to adopt the Green's policy until the appropriate safeguards are worked out and put in place? There are longer term considerations that are far more important to us than enriching US private equity firms and their lobbyists via their data centre assets on Australian soil. #auspol #nswpol youtube.com/watch?v=eL853eKE…