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The Guardian — Technology · October 4, 2026 · On the brief until October 18, 2026

Rural Queenslanders have seen gas projects come and go – but a 725-hectare datacentre poses a whole new level of ‘stupidity’

Environmental ScienceUrban PlanningPublic Policy
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Driving massive electricity and land demands for model infrastructure

A proposed 725-hectare datacentre in rural Queensland to power Anthropic's Claude will require a quarter of the state's peak power capacity. The state government removed local council approval powers to manage future datacentre assessments directly. This shifts planning authority and forces environmental professionals to manage major energy loads in rural communities.

Summary written by AI Business Lens with an AI model from the article at theguardian.com. It is not the article, and the publisher has not reviewed it. For publishers.

THE TEACHING ANGLE
State officials took planning control away from local councils despite community warnings about repeating past boom-and-bust resource cycles.

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