Labor to set terms for datacentre and AI growth as it vows not to repeat mistakes of resources boom

11 June 2026 at 05:27

Assistant minister agrees concerns over resource usage are legitimate but argues Australia cannot ignore ‘consequential’ economic wave

Australia should learn from the mistakes of the resources boom and set the terms for the AI and datacentres boom, the assistant minister for the digital economy, Andrew Charlton says.

Growth in datacentres has exploded in the past two years, Charlton told the Sydney Institute on Wednesday night, with 44 projects in the pipeline in New South Wales alone seeking 11GW of capacity on the electricity grid.

If Australian data centres are going to power the AI revolution, we deserve a fair return | David Pocock

The Guardian - Energy

By: David Pocock

8 June 2026 at 16:00

We cannot afford to make the same mistake as we did with gas. If tech companies are going to use our land, energy and water for AI, they must pay their fair share of tax

Over the past few months, tens of thousands of Australians have emailed their local MP calling for a 25% tax on gas exports. More than 2,200 people have even chipped in their own money to fund billboards promoting the idea.

Why?

Exclusive: Leaked documents show BHP’s climate backtrack - podcast

The Guardian - Energy

By: Presented by Nour Haydar · with Christopher Knaus. Produced by Miles Herbert and Joe Koning who also did the sound design and mix. Hannah Parkes is the executive producer

25 May 2026 at 11:30

Nour Haydar speaks with Christopher Knaus about the BHP files – the cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners – which show that the world’s biggest miner has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisation

Additional audio in this episode was sourced by Financial Times Live

Read more:

BHP ‘laughing’ at Australia’s key climate policy while pocketing hundreds of millions in tax breaks, Pocock says

The Guardian - Energy

By: Christopher Knaus · Adam Morton · Dan Jervis-Bardy and Graham Readfearn

26 May 2026 at 05:46

Outrage as leaked documents reveal mining giant’s backsliding on commitments to slash emissions

The independent senator David Pocock says leaked BHP documents show that the mining giant is “laughing” at Australia’s key climate policy while pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars through a generous diesel tax break.

An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to by the Guardian and the ABC show BHP has scrapped a project to significantly reduce global emissions, delayed vast renewables projects in the Pilbara and war-gamed options to push the electrification of its polluting diesel truck and train fleets into the next two decades.

Revealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate push

The Guardian - Energy

By: Christopher Knaus and Adam Morton

25 May 2026 at 11:30

Exclusive: BHP once dubbed climate change an ‘existential’ threat. But leaked documents show it has backtracked on decarbonisation at a vast network of mines

Read more from the BHP files investigation here

In the middle of 2019, London was sweltering through a heatwave.

Temperature records tumbled. Frail, ill and elderly people died in their hundreds.

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