Friday’s policy shift makes the Queensland government—not local councils—the assessor and coordinator for datacentre applications, pulling the proposed Western Downs project into a new state-run planning framework.
The move follows the emergence of a $31 billion Anthropic-linked datacentre near Kogan that would need 2.16GW of peak power—about a quarter of Queensland’s total demand—and could start operating as early as next year.
More than 21,500 people have signed a local petition against the project, with residents citing energy demand, noise, siting and fears of a repeat of the region’s coal seam gas boom-and-bust cycle.
Developers and regional advocates say the 725-hectare project could create thousands of construction jobs and about 1,400 ongoing roles, while the state says datacentres will be assessed under rules similar to mining, renewables and tourism.
The dispute is widening beyond one site: the Environmental Defenders Office says inquiries about datacentres have jumped 250% since January, and it is calling for a moratorium until national standards catch up.