At the 10 August meeting, councillors unanimously have called for the state government to introduce a moratorium on approvals for new data centres and expansion of currently existing data centres until a parliamentary inquiry has been completed.
Councillor Karen Sherry put forward the notice of motion to write to state leaders to request the moratorium, following increased community scrutiny on proposed data centres in Hume.
A number of data centres have been proposed across Hume, including one set for the former Ford site at Barry Road in Campbellfield.
Cr Sherry said some councillors spoke to Data Centres Australia chief executive Belinda Dennett at the recent National Growth Areas Alliance meeting, who revealed there are currently 92 data centres in the pipeline across Australia.
“Each time one is proposed and developed, there’s going to be cumulative impacts,” she said.
“People in this community are really feeling it. And it’s always the north and west of Melbourne, the more working class suburbs because of the supply of industrial land that we have.”
Councillor John Haddad, whose ward takes in Campbellfield, supported the motion, and said residents told him they did not fully understand what was being proposed at the former Ford site.
“Lebanese, Arabic, Italian, Assyrian, Caladian, and Turkish languages are the most spoken languages [in the area]. Nothing was sent to the households in a language that they can understand,” he said.
“I don’t think this is good enough for the Campbellfield community. People deserve to understand what is being proposed next door to their homes and they deserve enough time to ask questions.”
The council will request the state-led inquiry to include public hearings and invite evidence from scientific experts, community organisations, Traditional Owners, local residents, local governments, industry representatives and relevant government agencies to consider the full scope of impacts of data centres and recommend appropriate regulatory framework.
The council will also call for a joint state and local government taskforce to develop planning, environmental and infrastructure policy responses for the siting and operation of data centres following findings from the proposed parliamentary inquiry.
