Consultants cold-calling Tasmanian landowners over 200–300MW AI data centre, inquiry told

The Greens say consultants acting for an AI data centre company have been phoning north-west Tasmanian residents to ask whether they would sell their land. Greens MP Vica Bayley put the issue to the acting coordinator-general at a state parliamentary energy committee hearing, asking if an AI data centre was planned for Nook, near Sheffield.

Bayley said a Sydney consultancy had approached locals who own agricultural land beside a substation, which was recently upgraded as part of the north-west transmission line. He said the purchase was allegedly for a large data centre, and he questioned whether residents should hear about it from a consultancy.

Acting Coordinator-General Dennis Hendriks said there was "probably not a lot I can say about that". He confirmed that the proposal Bayley described was project B, a 200–300 megawatt data centre at feasibility stage in the north-west. Hendriks told the committee the project was at an early stage of development and that his office had made introductions to the planning authority, but it held only a "very limited amount of information". A question about who the proponent is was taken on notice.

The government revealed in parliament last month that six new data centres had been proposed, without naming who was behind them. Firmus Technologies has previously said none of those six confidential proposals are its own. Firmus is running three Tasmanian projects: one under construction in Launceston, one approved at Long Reach in the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone, and one awaiting approval at Wesley Vale in the north-west.

Bayley asked Business, Resources and Industry Minister Felix Ellis whether farmland should host AI data centres. Ellis said there was a statutory planning process and environmental regulation, and that every proponent would go through them as normal. A government spokesperson said the proposal was among information already tabled in parliament and that the proponent was still considering it. The spokesperson added that no final site had been confirmed, and urged the proponent to engage openly and early with the community.

Wade Rockliff, a Sheffield farmer, said he had heard consultants were seeking farmland for AI data centres. He said he thought buyers were offering "way more than the land's worth" and predicted the project would "cause huge tension with their neighbours". Rockliff also doubted that data centres would employ many locals once operating.