CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you Simon [conference chair Simon Currie, Co-Founder and Chief Projects Officer, Energy Estate] for that introduction.

I too would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today.

I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

It’s been a little more than 12 months since the first of these annual summits – and a little over 12 months since I was appointed Minister for Industry and Innovation, and Minister for Science, in the re-elected Albanese Government.

And throughout that period, there hasn’t been a day where AI technologies and data centre investments weren’t a major subject of public discussion.

That debate should be a welcome thing for all of us here.

Australians want to understand these technologies and infrastructures, the risks they pose and the benefits they offer for our working and domestic lives.

That’s how trust is built. There are no shortcuts.

The risk of leaning back

Much of the public debate about AI and data centres has – understandably – focussed on risk.

Risk to the stability of Australia’s energy grid.

To water security in a land that is drought-prone and heating year on year.

To children’s safety and collective privacy.

National security and democratic cohesion.

Cultural autonomy and our access to reliable, accurate information.

I am alert to all of these challenges.

But the most dangerous response to risk is retreat.

Bolting the gate, pulling up the drawbridge and hiding under the blanket and hoping the technology goes away.

Because if Australia leans back, the risks don’t disappear — they multiply.

We become customers at the far end of global supply chains –

Wholly dependent on data stored elsewhere, models trained elsewhere, programs and applications built elsewhere and value captured elsewhere.

And for all that, Australians would enjoy no guarantee of energy stability or water security.

No social democratic advantage and no national security dividend.

No guarantee of cultural autonomy or freedom from mis- and disinformation.

Just an Australia bobbing like a cork on the ocean of great power competition for technological supremacy.

More dependent, weaker and less resilient.

In a less dependable geostrategic landscape.

Australia’s Data Centre Expectations

But Australia is not without agency.

We have abundant land.

World class renewable energy potential.

Stable governance.

Diverse skills.

And a strategic geographic footing in the fastest growing region in the world.

Those strengths are exactly why Australia is such an attractive destination for data centre investment.

So the question isn’t whether data centres will be built.

The question is — on whose terms?

Earlier this year, the Government released five clear Data Centre Expectations. They’re about shaping investment, so that it works for Australia.

First, global hyperscalers need to deliver for Australia’s national interest.

That means working in good faith with local communities.

Protecting sensitive and personal data.

And strengthening Australia’s capability in cybersecurity and advanced AI.

Second, new data centres must bring investment in new renewable energy generation and transmission.

The energy intensity of data centres isn’t a secret — and pretending otherwise is what leads to energy vulnerability.

We’ve seen that mistake made elsewhere.

Australia is taking a better approach: turning energy intensity into a national advantage by linking data centres directly to new renewable supply.

That’s why the Commonwealth and almost every state and territory are aligned on requiring proponents to underwrite new generation and cover connectivity costs – led through the work of Minister Chris Bowen and the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council.

And importantly, industry is stepping up.

Microsoft’s investment in the Walla Walla Solar Farm in the Riverina is a major addition to the energy grid, delivering power not just for data centres, but for Australian households and businesses.

And they’ve signed an MoU that commits to alignment with the Government’s Data Centre Expectations going forward.

Just last week a global infrastructure consortium advanced plans for a $10 billion investment in battery storage and data centre development in Muswellbrook.

It will bring 2GW of new energy storage capacity, 500 construction jobs and 200 ongoing jobs.

These are the kind of productive investments that regional Australia needs.

Third, data centre proponents must ensure water security.

That’s a real challenge – and one that Australian researchers and industry are working to tackle.

At La Trobe University’s Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition, researchers are working with industry partners to use AI and quantum technologies to dramatically improve cooling, ventilation and resource efficiency in data centre facilities.

Backed by $1.1 million from the Albanese Government’s Critical Technologies Challenge Program, they are working towards a prototype to deploy in major Australian digital infrastructure.

And from next year, Australian researchers will get even more opportunity to tackle these challenges through Australia’s participation in Horizon Europe – the largest pool of research and development funding anywhere in the world.

Fourth, data centres must create good, secure and well paid jobs for Australians.

Good jobs. Blue-collar as well as white-collar jobs.

Building, construction and engineering jobs, along with good high-tech jobs in digital infrastructure maintenance.

At CDC’s Laverton North campus, around 500 electricians and metal fabricators are already at work.

And beyond job creation, we expect skills creation – skills additionality alongside energy additionality.

Fifth, new data centres must be a net-positive for Australia’s researchers, not-for-profits and startups.

That means real access to compute power to drive Australian innovation, development and national resilience.

That’s exactly what Anthropic committed to in its recent MoU with the Government.

It’s about working together and harnessing the investment in a way that makes Australia stronger, safer, fairer and more resilient.

The Australian Approach

Our approach is informed by Australian values and by tough lessons from Australia’s past.

Advocates say data centre investment is the equivalent of the gold rushes of the 19th century.

Forgetting that those rushes, just like more recent resources booms, had plenty of distorting effects –

Labour shortages, capital misallocation and noticeable pressures on social cohesion.

Of course, in the long run, Australia derived a massive net benefit from the gold rushes and subsequent resource booms.

But our approach is about capturing the massive benefits while minimising the pitfalls that Australians have grown tired of.

When we secure investment here, we don’t just secure construction jobs, or renewable financing.

We become home to the services, and we get to influence and train the models, better shape safety and run the platforms of the digital economy.

To capture the revenue and economic growth that follows.

But that only happens if we act early –

Not after communities push back.

Australia’s new AI Safety Institute is about making sure we have a proactive, whole-of-government approach to keeping Australians safe.

Launched this month, its experts will monitor, test and analyse AI capabilities as they emerge.

Making sure government has the readiness it needs to modernise laws and regulation as required.

That online platforms are accountable, personal data secure, children safe, workers’ rights protected and creatives getting their fair share.

That AI is embedded into Government in a way that uplifts Government services.

Australia isn’t alone in its approach.

Canada’s AI for All Plan is about making sure AI can ‘work for all Canadians, not the other way around’.

The UK’s National AI Strategy emphasises investment and planning, fair distribution of productivity gains, and good AI governance.

Australia’s AI Safety Institute and the UK AI Security Institute are working together so that both countries can shape the technology in our interests.

And in the EU, their tech sovereignty package is focused on being integral to the global supply chain – increasing their capacity in semiconductors and cloud capacity.

We can’t grapple with AI alone – and we can’t do it all.

But we can build more of the supply chain here where it makes sense to do so – from our critical minerals to our polysilicon.

Companies like Syenta – backed by $10.1 million by the National Reconstruction Fund and spun out of the ANU – developing advanced chip packaging technology.

The Australian approach –

Leveraging our partnerships –

And using Australian minerals, Australian ideas, Australian ingenuity and Australian experts – to make this technology work for Australians.

Conclusion

Pope Leo XIV’s recent Encyclical asks whether technological progress will diminish or amplify human dignity.

That’s not about the technology itself –

It’s about human choice.

Australia is making clear-eyed, pragmatic choices that embrace the extraordinary opportunities of the AI age – while protecting fundamental Australian values.

Dignity. Fairness. And a commitment to the common good.

Working together, Australians can shape this infrastructure and technology in a way that strengthens our sovereignty,

safeguards our national interest, and backs working Australians.

Thanks very much.