Essay by Eric Worrall
“… Failing to win the support of Queensland could be a deal breaker, according to the Climate Council …”
Data centres will have “legal obligation” to BYO renewables, says PM, but LNP looms as spoiler
Sophie Vorrath
Jul 15, 2026Prime minister Anthony Albanese says data centre developers will have a “legal obligation” to meet their own energy needs by underwriting new renewable supply, in the first clear sign that the government’s bring-your-own power concept is more than just a polite request.
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“We will create a legal obligation for the next generation of large-scale data centres to underwrite new power supply,” Albanese said on Wednesday in his address at the University of Sydney.
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But whether the new rules are supported by all states and territories – and whether unanimous support is necessary to get the new rules over the line – remains to be seen.
…At a meeting of state and territory energy ministers in May, Queensland withheld support for the National Data Centre Expectations set out by the federal government in March, including the push to reuire developers to offset their demand with new renewable and storage projects.
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Failing to win the support of Queensland could be a deal breaker, according to the Climate Council, which says “changes to coordinated regulation of (and any policy changes affecting) the electricity market depends on cooperation between federal and state governments.”
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Read more: https://reneweconomy.com.au/data-centres-will-have-legal-obligation-to-byo-renewables-says-pm-under-proposed-national-ai-standards/
This isn’t the first time Queensland has defied federal green mandates;
Sadly there is still significant risk for data center investors, even if they invest in Queensland. Queensland opposition parties are as deep green as their current federal counterparts, so a change of government in Queensland could be a significant sovereign risk for AI and data center investors.
Despite encouraging moves like refusing to cooperate with the new data center green energy mandate, and support for coal, Queensland Premier Crisafulli has sometimes played both sides of the fence when it comes to renewables, like his solar power for tenants programme. His resistance to the new green energy for data center mandate could be a play to win more concessions or funding for Queensland, rather than a hardline position.
The complex interplay of Federal and State laws means the Federal Government could make life difficult for Queensland if Queensland refuses to cooperate, for example it may be within the power of the Federal Government to legislate national carbon taxes which could be applied to any new or upgraded coal plant capacity. So even though Queensland might permit new data centers without enforcing the new federal green energy mandate, the Federal Government might be able to sabotage the economics of constructing the fossil fuel capacity required to power those new data centers.
Data centers and AI are stirring just as much controversy in Queensland as they are elsewhere. My enthusiasm for data centers is a minority opinion in my local drinking establishment, and that’s amongst people who are mostly conservative leaning. A public backlash against Queensland becoming the data center capital of Australia could trigger a rapid reversal of the current policy of supporting large data centers.
Yet for all these qualifiers, this defiance of the absurd federal green mandate for data centers is an encouraging sign that the Aussie economy may not be entirely cooked. If Queensland pushes forward with this defiance, New South Wales would be in an intolerable position of watching the center of Australia’s investment and business activity drift North. The Climate Council is entirely correct that continued defiance could topple the whole federal green data center mandate.
Australia cannot survive without its own data centers. As I recently demonstrated through example, data centers have the capacity to deliver 800%+ productivity improvements in industries which embrace them. Trying to live without data centers and AI is to be like the factories in 1913 which looked on as Henry Ford created the first mass production line, and thought they could ignore these new ways of working and carry on as before. To not have sufficient domestic data centers is to be at the end of the queue when demand surges, like being at the end of the power line. The future belongs to people who adapt to and embrace technological advances. Those who don’t, don’t have an income earning future.
The Climate Council are a pack of low-end climate zealots that should not be allowed to have the influence they seem to been given.
If you look up the definition of “Useful Idiots”, a group shot of the Climate Council will be presented.
Data centers show the impractibility of renewable energy ,so they must be stopper.
You can’t power the future with unreliable, expensive, weather-dependent renewables. So you must stop data centers.
AI centers must: ” … pay their full share of grid connection … and to put at least as much energy into our grid as they take out of it … to be net-generators, not net-users … to build new renewable generation – and firming – to strengthen our national energy resilience …” (Albanese Jul 15).
Green energy mandate means data centres won’t be built (Fin Review Jul 20).
Only if it is enforced. Queensland’s defiance of the mandate creates hope the mandate will fail. But the uncertainty will still deter some investors.
HOWEVER if data centers in Queensland become a major revenue source for the state government, it will be difficult to stop them.
Either Albo knows that this will put the kibosh on data centres in Australia, and that is his aim…
(leftists hate actual data, except when it can be manipulated to their own gain).
Or he is doesn’t know, because he is exceptionally stupid.
These two options are not mutually exclusive.
It’s a tough call. I think they actually believe green energy will work if only everyone believes enough, and invests sufficient capital. He called Australia’s pension savings scheme a “national asset” the other day, which is a strong hint where his next piggy bank raid will be directed.
When I resigned from high school teaching in 1998, I was able to move my “super” from teaching into a private fund, so the government couldn’t touch it. 🙂
it takes but the stroke of a pen.
Communism 101.
Clap if you believe in fairies.
Is “firming” a weasel-word for reliable back-up power?
Usually with COAL and GAS… but sometime hydro in the right clkimate and terrain.
They mean “batteries” – like anyone could afford to build the kind of battery capacity which would be required to make renewables reliable.
Right, because THEY WOULD think of an uncharged battery as “firm capacity.” 😅🤣😂😆
What if AI centers provide their own power plant and refuse to connect to the grid? Are there rules that keep private power plants from operating. How about rooftop solar? That is private power plant isn’t it?
EW, as much as I agree with your conclusions, I disagree with your hopeful likely outcomes. AUS is so far gone on ‘climate change’ that after it eventually comes to its senses, it will be too late to ever fully recover.
Ditto UK and Germany, and sadly now probably also Canada.
Soaring support for rebel parties like One Nation, and premiers like Crisafulli, provide some hope the consensus is breaking. But yes, Australia is still in desperate trouble.
People in desperate trouble don’t always act to fix their problems. But sometimes they do.
Rud, you seem remarkably unaware of what’s been going on in Canada in the past year.
Tim Hodgson knows what’s needed – oil, gas, coal – but I don’t like his chances of carrying the Canadian Liberal party along with what the country has to do.
I mean, we’re talking a 180-degrees turnabout on what they’ve cherished as “the fight against climate change” for the past 11 years.
I never could figure out why Canada, of all places, was so against a degree or so of warming…
Very strange indeed.
Yes, it’s certainly not logical or scientifically rational.
Just like the climate narrative generally – warmer IS BETTER, it’s NOT a “crisis.”
I’m still a bit concerned about the rush for data centers, as the finances look questionable.
Absolutely fair, most if not all of the current crop of high wire AI pioneers will stumble and go broke, just as all the original railway entrepreneurs went broke. But the data centers will be built and used.
I believe you are correct that most of the AI companies will go belly up.
The data centers will be used by the winning companies for more than AI. Data centers are vital for all sorts of electronic communication.
The data centers and the attached infrastructure is a valuable resource to benefit everyone. Why anyone would cripple such a critical resource indicates criminal negligence, corruption, or both.
A good example of why outfits with lots of authority should not have lots of power and outfits with lots of power should not have lots of authority. Government should not be in the energy business or any other business. Government has an obligation to lightly regulate us not control us. If government is in business who is going to regulate them? I would rather see Exxon regulate itself than the government regulating itself in business. It is a bad bad idea.
Hardly anyone outside of the USA understands this. English speaking places which didn’t toss out the monarchy are still mostly ensnared by old British Empire big state thinking.
And the gals over at Promethean Action know this very well and campaign against the British Empire continually.
Australia would have had a republic in 1999, but politicians refused popular demand for a directly elected president, instead opting for a proposal which would have removed constitutional restraints from the Prime Minister.
Strangely Aussies didn’t support this naked power grab.
“… Henry Ford created the first mass production line, …”
He didn’t — despite numerous statements like the above. The linked-to page even mentions other businesses. Years ago I read his main inspiration came from the meat-packing facilities. It is not worth trying to run this down today.
Perhaps I should have said “vehicle mass production line”. But I’m hoping the sense of what I meant came through clearly.
I believe it is more correctly stated as the first “mass production assembly line.”
Quote: Australia cannot survive without its own data centers. As I recently demonstrated through example, data centers have the capacity to deliver 800%+ productivity improvements in industries which embrace them.
Nope. I don’t share either of those opinions. Spend the money on fibre connections to the rest of the world and pocket the savings.
Then name an industry or two which will see productivity improvements let alone 800%
Don’t drink the cool aid. If people want to spend their own money then fine. But the track record is that sooner or later a government will want to spend public money and I object to that.
I demonstrated an 800% productivity gain in the post I linked. The following is me vibe coding a simple game from start to finish in half an hour – a game which would have taken me 4 hours to build without AI assistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhWQrPewMQs
I kept it simple because I didn’t think anyone would want to sit through a 2-3 day video where I build something non trivial.
There is plenty of evidence, such as meshy.ai which allows you to design real world products using vibe, that these gains will extend to other industries.
As for building fibre instead of domestic capacity, there are all sorts of problems with that. For starters it makes you dependent on the goodwill of the country you’re receiving AI services from. Would the USA be happy to allow China a stranglehold over US prosperity? After all, China is currently delivering AI services cheaper than the USA. From a purely economic perspective it makes sense to let China do all of the USA’s AI stuff.
One of the problems is conflating data center with AI.
Think of the modern concept of cloud storage, integrate that into a single facility and you get a data center. Note: Not all clouds are integrated. Many currently are federated.
Think of AI as a next generation Cray Supercomputer with advanced software, especially a robust human language interface.
Why integrate AI and the memory arrays into a single system? Speed and data control.
Apart from some (limited) industrial use, the primary purpose of data centers is to get information about people that can be sold, even if its just to government to be able to fine you.