A Select Committee of the Legislative Council has been established to inquire into and report on the development, regulation and impacts of artificial intelligence data centres in South Australia, with particular reference to:
(a) The Malinauskas Government’s announced strategy for the development and rollout of artificial intelligence data centres in South Australia;
(b) The proposed classification of artificial intelligence data centres as “essential infrastructure” and the implications of that classification;
(c) The proposed role and powers of the Coordinator-General in facilitating and determining matters relating to data centres, including energy, water, industry partnerships and artificial intelligence research and development;
(d) The interaction of South Australia’s strategy and regulatory framework with equivalent Commonwealth, State and Territory initiatives;
(e) The anticipated economic benefits, employment outcomes, investment and regional development impacts;
(f) The anticipated scale and rate of development of data centres and associated supply chains, particularly electricity infrastructure;
(g) The substantial electricity requirements of data centres and the implications for electricity generation, grid firming, transmission infrastructure and electricity markets in South Australia;
(h) The increasing relationship between data centre development and intermittent renewable energy generation, including the implications for the availability of affordable, reliable and dispatchable electricity;
(i) The anticipated water requirements of data centres and the adequacy, security and sustainability of local and state-wide water supplies;
(j) Environmental impacts, including impacts on ecosystems, land use, wastewater, electronic waste, landfill, transmission corridors and associated electricity generation and mining supply chains;
(k) Fire and other emergency risks associated with data centre infrastructure and the adequacy of emergency response and contingency arrangements;
(l) The drivers of the rapid growth in digital data creation, storage and processing, including the anticipated growth of artificial intelligence and the principal customers and users of data centre infrastructure;
(m) The business models, ownership structures and commercial arrangements of data centre operators, including expectations of government facilitation, preferential treatment, financial support, underwriting, procurement and government as a customer;
(n) Cybersecurity, data privacy, data sovereignty and the implications of data centre development for individual freedoms and the security of critical information;
(o) Community consultation, transparency and the achievement of appropriate local and state-wide social licence;
(p) Lessons from the development and regulation of data centres in other Australian jurisdictions and internationally; and
(q) Any other related matter.