War of words over Greens' proposal to co-locate data centres and pools

A war of words has erupted over a suggestion from the ACT Greens that co-locating data centres with Canberra's public pools should be considered.The idea is included in a motion set to be debated in the ACT Legislative Assembly this week by Greens MLA Laura Nuttall.The motion includes several elements, but one point, calling on the ACT government to "consider co-locating data centres with public pools to use cooling water as a heating source", has drawn significant criticism from Chief Minister Andrew Barr.ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says data centres belong only in industrial areas, away from pools in residential districts. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)"The primary and best location for data centres is exactly where they have been planned and built in the ACT for decades, and that is in industrial zones," Mr Barr said."Co-locating data centres [with public pools] would effectively be eating into community space and amenity."Ms Nuttall said she was "disappointed" but "not surprised" by Mr Barr's reaction."Mr Barr has not taken our motion in the best faith possible," she said."We are just asking the government to consider it, we are not actually asking them to commit to doing it."Facebook post a 'wilful misrepresentation'Greens MLA Laura Nuttall's private members bill calls for new data centres to implement best-practice water and energy consumption. (ABC News: Tobias Hunt)Ms Nuttall also raised concern about a Facebook post made by Mr Barr, which showed an image of a pool next to a large data centre."I felt it was a wilful misrepresentation of what the ACT Greens are actually asking the government to do," she said."We are not talking about a massive data centre like the one that we suspect Mr Barr has AI-generated on his Facebook page."We are talking about things like in the UK, where as far back as 2023, they have had data centres the size of washing machines powering public pool."Chief Minister Andrew Barr posted this AI-generated image of a data centre next to an outdoor pool on Facebook when announcing the government was against the proposal. (Facebook)Ms Nuttall described the post as "a bit cringe" and said it was a "blatant attempt to divert community attention away from what actually matters".Mr Barr defended his post."What? The Greens are going to now start suggesting that Facebook posts are inappropriate?" he said."What did they think? No one was going to respond to any element of what they have brought forward?"Ms Nuttall said the pool suggestion was only a "small part" of the wider motion, which also called for a moratorium on new data centres in Canberra until a new framework was in place."We want to make sure that the ACT government enshrines best practice in how data centres use energy and water," she said."I think it's a total misdirection for the government to be zeroing in on one point about pools."The ACT government estimates there are already 15 data centres in Canberra. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)Mr Barr said the government would also not be supporting a call for a moratorium."I am not in the business of turning down investment in new data centres that support important elements for our university sector, for the Australian government, for things like climate and weather modelling," he said.Parties 'have always had points of difference'The debate comes a week after the Greens ended their long-standing confidence and supply agreement with Labor. But Mr Barr said it was not unusual for the Greens and Labor to disagree, and said MLAs could expect "greater scrutiny on the fine detail of private members' motions"."We have always had points of difference," he said."We have had disagreements over dozens of policy issues over the last 40 years, we will no doubt have disagreements over the next 40."Opposition leader Mark Parton said while he thought a discussion about data centres was "really important" to be had, he said the Canberra Liberals were also not supportive of the pool suggestion and the moratorium.The ACT government estimates there are already 15 data centres in Canberra, and expects a new framework on data centres to be released next year.