Federal Government to Set National Datacentre Standards After Tasmania Approves 288MW Facility

On 26 August, PM Albanese announced federal legislation setting national standards on energy, water, and land use for large datacentres from early next year. This came one day after George Town Council voted 6-1 to approve Firmus's 288MW AI datacentre at Long Reach, Tasmania. Councillors said energy and AI concerns were "outside the scope" of their planning role.