News
23 September, 2026
Cloud Carrier asked to give evidence at Senate Inquiry
The proponent behind the Moss Vale data centre and associated gas fired power plant will be asked to give evidence at a Federal Inquiry into AI and data centres.
The proponent behind the Moss Vale data centre and associated gas fired power plant will be asked to give evidence at a Federal Inquiry into AI and data centres.
Chair of the Australian Senate Inquiry into Artificial Intelligence and Data Centres, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young – said Cloud Carrier would be asked to give evidence at a Canberra hearing on October 1.
“We are really hoping to get the proponent to the Canberra hearing and we will endeavour to do that because it’s important that we put a number of questions to them,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
The program for the October 1 hearing is still being finalised.
A hearing in Lane Cove on Tuesday heard from a number of community and local government representatives from Sydney and the Southern Highlands.
Consistent themes throughout the day included lack of transparency and lack of community engagement, the inappropriate location of new data centres and the lack of any national framework or strategic oversight.
Speakers expressed concern that data centre proponents were pushing through as many projects as possible before stricter regulations came into place.
Representatives of data centre proponents AirTasker and Goodman also gave evidence at the Inquiry, dismissing concerns over lack of consultation.
They claimed they were committed to transparency and accountability and responsive to community feedback.
Gaye White from local group WinZero said there needed to be a moratorium on data centre approvals because AI was moving faster than the political system.
“Our political system moves at human speed but AI does not,” she said.
She said data centres were automated facilities offering very little in terms of employment and with all the benefits flowing overseas.
She said communities needed to be asking what they were actually getting in return.
Mrs White said residents of the Southern Highlands had been “forking out a lot of money” to reduce their carbon footprint and it was “insulting” for the State Government to be considering plans for a massive gas-fired power plant when residents were “personally doing everything we can to reduce carbon emissions”.
“We shouldn’t event be here talking about this – it (the Moss Vale proposal) is inappropriate,” she said.
Other local speakers included Stop the Gas Plant – Southern Highlands committee members Dr Jacqueline Duc, Jessica Ryall and Natalie Swainston and Win Zero committee member Kirstine McKay.
Jessica Ryall said plans for the Moss Vale data centre had been revealed in stages, leading to “the monster” – a proposed 673MW gas-fired power plant emitting two million tonnes of carbon into the environment every year.
She said the project had the potential to sterilise the region for future growth.
Dr Duc – also speaking on behalf of Doctors for the Environment Australia – said the health impacts from airborne pollutants would be “significant”.
She described the Moss Vale project as “poorly conceived”.
Natalie Swainston – also speaking on behalf of Parents for Climate – said she was sick of spending precious family time on her computer “defending the future of our children”.
She told the Senate Inquiry that she was tired of the system.
She acknowledged that AI and data centres were “part of our future” but said “we have an opportunity to do this differently”.
Kirstine McKay said the Southern Highlands community would be “greatly affected” if the proposed gas-fired power plant goes ahead.
She said emissions would impact on human health but would also hurt the tourism industry.
Community representatives from Sydney expressed concern over the proximity of proposed data centres to residential areas.
One proposed data centre in Lane Cove is located just metres away from the nearest home.
Speakers said data centres should be treated like heavy industry because their impacts were so great.
Ms Hanson-Young said the NSW Government had been “missing in action” on the issue of data centres.
“The horse has bolted and the communities are paying the price”.
Goodman’s General Manager, Development Ben McGilp said the issues being discussed at the inquiry were not unique to Australia.
He said data centres needed to be “planned and delivered responsibly” and told the Inquiry that Goodman was “committed to transparency and accountability”.
However committee member, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, seized on the fact that Goodman is planning a data centre in Lane Cove located less than 20 metres away from the nearest home.
“On what planet do you think that’s responsible?” she asked.
Senator Henderson called on Goodman to be a “responsible corporate citizen” and to withdraw a plan that she labelled “grossly irresponsible” and one that “treats the community with contempt”.
Mr McGlip simply said that community feedback was something that Goodman would take on board seriously and that a decision would be made before the end of the year.
The Inquiry heard that data centre customers were ‘hyper scalers’ such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
None of the customers were Australian and it was unknown how those customers used their data.
Local Government representatives said a Federal Government framework would help councils obtain the best outcomes for their communities.
They said the State Significant Development pathway gave them little say but councils were in the best position to make decisions regarding the location and design of new data centres.
They said massive data centres were swallowing valuable employment lands and creating ‘dead zones’ and accused the proponents of refusing to engage with the community in any meaningful way.
Lane Cove could potentially lose 50 per cent of its business park to one data centre alone.
Wingecarribee Shire Councillor Heather Champion told the Inquiry that the potential harm from the proposed Moss Vale data centre and gas-fired power plant overshadowed any possible community benefit.
She said there was no transparency, the community had no voice and the proponent had no social licence.
“The Government needs to act with the urgency it demands,” she said.
Cr Champion said the proposed gas-fired power plant would not only destroy local carbon reduction targets but State targets as well.
Council’s Director Communities and Place Michael McCabe said there needed to be integrated assessment and meaningful community involvement.
“I can guarantee you that there has not been much community consultation (in relation to the Moss Vale proposal),” he told the Inquiry.
Mr McCabe said the 1000-hectare Southern Highlands Innovation Park (SHIP) was designed to provide employment land for 7500 people.
However the proposed Cloud Carrier project would take up 67 hectares and provide just two full-time jobs, he said.
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