Fracking, noise and water-hogging: Have your say in national data centre inquiry

Fracking, noise and water-hogging: Have your say in national data centre inquiry

Send my email

The rapid rollout of data centres and their impacts upon communities, water, climate and energy costs is raising concern throughout our cities and regions. It also has major implications for the future of fracking in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin. 

In the NT, the Government and gas fracking companies see data centres as an opportunity to create a large, local market for fracked Beetaloo gas, with 12 separate data centre developers  currently eyeing opportunities in the Territory. 

An inquiry is underway in the Australian Senate into artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres, focused on whether existing regulations …

The rapid rollout of data centres and their impacts upon communities, water, climate and energy costs is raising concern throughout our cities and regions. It also has major implications for the future of fracking in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin. 

In the NT, the Government and gas fracking companies see data centres as an opportunity to create a large, local market for fracked Beetaloo gas, with 12 separate data centre developers  currently eyeing opportunities in the Territory. 

An inquiry is underway in the Australian Senate into artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres, focused on whether existing regulations are effectively managing the growth of data centres in Australia and the potential impacts of AI and data centres on Australian communities, industries, the environment, water and energy.  

+

Make a submission to the Senate Inquiry

Please send a submission to the Senate Inquiry into AI and data centres using our form below. 

  1. Add a subject heading and draft an email using the Email Tips section below. Start by introducing yourself and where you are from, then share with the committee what you are personally most worried about when it comes to AI and data centres in your community and beyond. 

  2. Make recommendations for the Senate Committee’s consideration (see suggestions in Email Tips section), including that they hold public hearings in impacted regions to provide communities a voice on this issue. 

NB Australian Senate committee inquiries require submitters to provide name, phone number, and postal or email address, so the committee secretariat can verify the submission.

Where do you live?

Compose your email

  • Please select your country via the flag dropdown on the left
  • The number is not valid in United States of America. Check number or click the flag to change country.
  • Invalid phone number

Email Tips +

Data centres in urban areas:

Water consumption: Data centres rely on huge volumes of fresh water for cooling. In mid-2025, proposed data centres in Melbourne’s North and West had the potential to consume 20GL of potable water per annum, equating to 4% of the city’s total use. 

Delaying energy transition and increasing electricity costs: Data centres used 4 million megawatt hours or 2.2% of electricity in the east coast grid in 2025. This is expected to triple by 2030 and increase eightfold by 2050 according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.  

Local air pollution: Diesel backup generators used by data centres can have air quality and human health impacts when located in proximity to residential communities. They emit hazardous pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter, increasing the risk of respiratory disease, cardiovascular conditions, and elevating cancer risk in nearby communities. 

Noise pollution: Persistent noise from cooling systems, as well as intermittent use of onsite back-up generation, affects nearby communities and wildlife.  

Undermining other community needs: There are real risks that data centre builds in cities will take up land that could otherwise be used to build new housing.   

NT Fracking and data centres: 

Water Consumption: Two of the known data centre projects proposed in the NT have the potential to draw billions of litres from precious water sources each year for cooling. In addition, the gas fracking required to run the data centres would use vast amounts of water and also risks contaminating groundwater sources that recharge NT rivers and springs, and which are relied upon by communities.  

Climate change: Gas guzzling hyperscale data centres will drive fracking in the Beetaloo Basin. The Beetaloo Digital project could consume around 146 petajoules of gas per annum, meaning it would more than double the Northern Territory’s gas use, which is currently around 140 petajoules per annum. Fracking in the Beetaloo Basin would unleash a climate bomb, generating 1.2 billion tonnes of emissions and increasing Australia’s emissions by up to 20 per cent. Meanwhile the Northern Territory is forecast to become unliveable due to climate change within a couple of generations.      

Suggested recommendations to the Senate Committee  

  • In addition to Sydney and Melbourne, the Committee must hold public hearings in Darwin to provide local communities an opportunity to contribute to the public discourse on this matter of importance.
  • An immediate moratorium on data centre construction above 50MW until the government has enacted firm social and environmental safeguards.
  • Data centres must not create demand for fracked and conventional gas in any way.
  • No public funding for data centres or enabling infrastructure.
  • Rollout of the data centre industry, including in the Northern Territory, must be informed by a strategic regional assessment to understand the cumulative risks for nationally significant animals, plants, habitats and places.
  • The right to free, prior and informed consent for Traditional Owners must be established as a central pillar of Australian data centre regulations.
  • Ensure data centres have best practice water efficiency, do not harm precious water resources and ensure community and environmental water needs are prioritised. 
  • Data centre proponents must be obligated to prepare comprehensive modelling before environmental assessments are open for public comment to allow for a clear understanding of water requirements, energy requirements and source, wastewater treatment, sound and lighting impacts along with a comprehensive flora and fauna study.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

  • Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.

  • All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?