Queensland Beg For More Data Centres And The 2 Security Guards And 6 Computer Nerds They'll Hire

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The nation's political leaders are convening today to discuss a number of pressing issues facing the nation.

With everyone not even bothering to go near WA's sweet GST deal - gun buybacks, domestic and sexual violence, bird flu and fuel security are all up on the agenda.

As well as those issues, Data Centres and the AI 'revolution' are set to feature heavily.

The states and the government are split along party lines, with the NT and Queensland set to kick up a stink over regulations for data centres.

With the federal government set to demand data centre developers sort their own electricity (renewable) out if they wanna get up and running, the Northerners are off that idea.

The debate comes amidst of a backdrop of the country trying to wrap its head around what this wave of data centres is going to mean for our economy, our energy and out water use.

While a necessary facet of a modern economy reliant on technology, concerns have been raised by plenty about how much of a drain these things are going to put on the power grid and water supply - amongst plenty of other things.

However, given the nation's proud history of using tax payer dollars to subsidise private investment (ie the government paying for a train line that will never be used for anything else other than transporting coal to a port and calling it 'infrastructure') - other concerns have been raised about doing everything possible to make sure that we are at the forefront of the data centre expansion.

As a result, Queensland and the NT are refusing to get behind the idea that these mammoth processing factories should sort their own energy out, given they certainly won't be tipping in to make sure fossil fuel companies keep investing in the economically perishing sector.

"Just think of all the jobs we'll bring up here," said a spokesperson for the NT in reference to the handful of permanent jobs that will probably be given to migrant workers that can be used to undercut wages.

"We aren't jeopardising that by making sure the private sector actually pays its own way."

More to come.