REGULATION OF AUSTRALIAN DATA CENTRES

Concern about data centres continues to grow around the nation.  A recent report by the independent Climate Council, states Australia currently has at least 162 operational data centres and another 90 proposed.  While these centres have been supporting existing digital services in Australia for many years, cloud computing and the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) require much more computing power and the need for more data centres.  And international players regard Australia as an ideal location for data centres.

There are major community concerns about the impact the surge in data centre developments will have on the cost to our climate and water and power bills. 

Data centres require a huge, uninterrupted supply of electricity and water to keep them operating and cooled as well as backups for both essentials in case of breakdowns in regular sources.  The Climate Council is concerned that without additional renewable energy generation and system flexibility, the industry’s power demand risks extending reliance on coal and gas, pushing up power prices and harming national and state climate targets.  And water demand for data centres is likely to at least triple by 2030.

The Federal Government, having welcomed investment in data centres, has been on notice for some time about addressing community concerns about the growth of the Australian data centre industry.  Last month the Prime Minister pledged to ensure that data centres bring on new renewable energy.  This was followed up with a meeting of Energy Ministers on July 28 where most states and territories agreed to regulate to ensure that data centres match their electricity demand with new renewables and that this renewable power is additional to what already exists or is being built.

While the Climate Council sees this as positive there are questions about timeframes and how it will be implemented.  Hopefully the both the Federal and State Governments will act decisively and quickly on their commitments.  Concerned community members will certainly be watching.

The Senate is conducting an Inquiry on Artificial Intelligence and Data Centres with submissions due by September 1.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   7th August,  2026. 

A PLEA FOR ACTION

Last week, our beautifully biodiverse property, with its Koalas, Bettongs, Gilders, and a host of other native animals, was once again engulfed in flames.

This is the third time in the last 14 years, and after putting our hearts and souls into conserving wildlife for almost 50 years, Pat and I now face the reality that we’ve failed.

Virtually all the old trees that had survived for hundreds of years providing shelter and sustenance to countless species of native fauna, many of them threatened, are gone and will never be replaced.

In some respects, we could consider ourselves fortunate. Neighbouring forested land, just 400m away, has suffered from wildfires in 2011, 2016, 2019, 2023, and now in 2026. None were caused by lightning strikes or other natural phenomena.

For the past six months we have watched the northern hemisphere on fire - Canada, the US, Russia, all of Europe, even the UK, and now it’s our turn, and all because the world’s governments have failed to act on climate change.

In 2008, 30 years after emissions reduction was first discussed at the Geneva World Climate Conference, NASA climate scientists proposed that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations needed to be kept below 350 parts per million to avoid catastrophic climate change. Two decades later, the current level is 425ppm and rising, with the most optimistic prediction being that they’ll peak in 2030, and we’re already reaping the consequences.

Last year, 12,773 homes, 5,116 minor structures, and 496 commercial structures were destroyed by wildfires in the United States, yet the Trump administration opposes federal caps on greenhouse gases and has revoked numerous climate action initiatives.

For our part, Australia is exporting near-record volumes of coal and gas, volumes that have been steadily increasing for years, decision-makers seemingly oblivious to the consequences; and this is a government that purports to believe that climate change is happening.

With further global temperature rises already locked in and guaranteed, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emission has never been greater, for without it, we’ll all be the losers.

 

-        John Edwards

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   18th September,  2026.

  

 

Clarence Valley Council and Community Consultation

In December 2024 Clarence Valley Council changed the structure and operation of its community advisory committees with the number of committees reduced from ten to four. In the past a councillor chaired the advisory committee meetings and a council officer from middle management attended and managed the committee’s business.  The new committees are still chaired by a councillor but the council officer attending has been upgraded with the General Manager Laura Black now the council officer generally in charge of proceedings at all advisory committee meetings.

Community members were appointed to the four committees in mid-2025 with the first meetings being held in July.

Having been a long-term member of a pre-2025 advisory committee (Climate Change), I have been interested in the effectiveness of the new arrangement.  I have looked at the operation of the Environment and Sustainability Advisory (E&S) Committee, chaired by Councillor Novak.  

Five applicants were appointed to the E&S Committee with two resigning early in the piece.  Several further advertisements saw more applicants appointed.  There are now six members.    Two meetings were held in 2025.  In 2026 there have been three meetings – one of which went ahead despite the absence of a quorum. Two further meetings are scheduled for this year.  It seems council, which originally wanted only four two-hour meetings a year, has finally twigged to the scale of the matters it wants this committee to discuss.

Having attended all but the first meeting in July 2025, I have seen changes in the meeting process and the committee members’ participation.  Frustration about the timely provision of information prior to meetings saw members finally complaining – leading to this being improved. Another concern raised was the failure to present the Koala policy to the committee before it went to a council meeting and then on public exhibition. 

A major positive is the increasing assertiveness of committee members while a major negative is the Chair’s determination to end the meeting well before two hours.  Another problem is the proposed Working Groups. More on that another time.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   24th  July, 2026 , under the title "Council and Community Consultation".

  

 Update: 

1)  There are now seven community members of the E&S Committee

2)  A further meeting was held on 1st September.  Another meeting is scheduled for November.

3)  Meetings are held in the Council Chambers in Prince St, Grafton.  Community members may attend these meetings as observers.

 

PARKS NOT SPEEDWAYS

With the creation of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), a commitment was made to accommodate stakeholder groups that have traditionally used state forests for their activities, including 4-wheel driving and trail bike riding.

As these activities aren’t allowed in national parks, the state government is considering gazetting some of those forests as State Parks, which would allow these activities to occur.

 Historically, there has been little regulation of these activities with trail-bikers and 4-wheel drivers creating havoc with impunity.

We need to consider, should these pastimes be allowed to proceed without proper controls? Not only is the environment at risk, but also other members of the community. Why should tourists and others, out enjoying nature and hoping to spot a Koala, have to seek shelter off the trail to allow a troupe of trail bike riders to roar past, spraying gravel and dirt in all directions?

These reserves are being created to protect Koalas, and the thousands of other plants and animals, many of which are in decline and already facing extinction. Clearly, nature conservation and motor sports are completely incompatible.

Last week there was a very troubling discovery in Bagawa State Forest, southwest of Glenreagh, where a person, or persons, have cleared endangered rainforest understory, including several threatened shrubs, in the process of reopening an old forest track and creating several new side trails for the purpose of trail bike riding.

Those new trails even cross creeks, up and down banks, creating an erosion hazard, adding more mud to our already polluted waterways.

I wonder if those responsible realise that damaging a threatened ecological community, or species, can attract a $550,000 fine or 7 years imprisonment (more for a corporation).

Naturally, this incident is being investigated.

There is clearly a need to cater for these high-impact activities, but they must be properly controlled and not allowed to pose a physical risk to other forest users, negatively impact the natural environment, or pollute waterways. Remember, the majority of the forests making up the GKNP, lie within regional drinking water catchments.

    -        John Edwards 

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   31st  July, 2026 . 

 

 

PROGRESS ON CLIMATE IN AUSTRALIA

Renewable energy adoption around the world is playing an important part in the struggle to reduce the carbon emissions which are driving increasingly frequent disasters like weather extremes and bushfires.

Progress on renewable energy in Australia has been significant. More than one in three Australian households (around four million) have rooftop solar and thousands of households have bought home batteries.  Renewables now power over 44% of the electricity grid.  As the independent Climate Council has pointed out, clean energy is outperforming coal, electric vehicles are on the rise and the economics of renewables stack up and are what most Australians want.

While more can be done to extend our use of renewables and household and industrial-scale batteries, there are other steps that must be taken.  The most difficult thing – and something that is essential – is the phasing out of fossil fuels.  As the Climate Council points out, if the phasing out of coal, oil and gas was simple, it would have already been done.

Fossil fuels, it says, are held in place by a web of influence which includes existing contracts locking in decades of fossil fuel production, laws that were not designed to consider climate change, the economic benefit gained from exporting fossil fuels and Australia’s trading partners (many of whom have long-term contracts) relying on those exports.  While these web strands are certainly very powerful, there are individuals and groups working for change.

This has been an uphill battle where those benefitting from fossil fuel extraction and its enormous profits are experts at pushing back and influencing governments.  In a recent example of this, gas proponents called for more exploration following the Iran War fuel shock.  And that convinced the gullible NSW Premier to open up exploration for gas in the far west of the state.

Important in combatting these fossil fuel proponents is providing information to the community about what needs to be done and urging for the tightening of development laws.  Increasing pressure on governments to make the necessary changes will ensure they cannot ignore the climate issues.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   10th July, 2026 under the title: "Progress on Climate". 

 

 

 

PROPOSED WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY IN THE CLARENCE VALLEY

 Six months ago, I reported on a series of undescribed plant species that have been discovered in the Clarence Valley in recent years, including the discovery of two small populations of previously unknown trees of the Gmelina genus, closely related to the local White Beech. 

That tree has now been described by a team at the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Herbarium at Mt Annan, led by Dr Trevor Wilson, who will shortly publish his findings.

With less than 30 mature trees remaining since the Liberation Trail wildfire decimated its habitat in 2019, this find is comparable to the Wollemi Pine discovery three decades ago. But unlike the spectacular Pine, which was growing in a national park, the new Gmelina is growing on Clarence Valley Council’s Shannon Creek property, with no legal protection whatsoever. 

Naturally, it has been nominated for listing as an endangered population under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, with a decision from the Scientific Committee imminent. This move is strongly supported by Dr. Wilson, who has described the discovery as extremely significant and recommends immediate conservation action be undertaken.

As a result Clarence Valley Council has been approached with a proposal for their entire property, together with the adjoining nature reserve, to be nominated as “An Area of Outstanding Biodiversity Value, as a conceptual Shannon Creek Wildlife Conservancy.

An Area of Outstanding Biodiversity Value is a conservation category under the state’s Biodiversity Conservation Act, applied to areas deemed to contain irreplaceable biodiversity values that are important to the whole of New South Wales, Australia or globally. 

With 1000 native plant species, and 290 species of fauna having been recorded, the proposed ‘Conservancy’ has merit. Include the fact that 4 of those plant species occur nowhere else in the world, and that an incredible 63 of those flora and fauna species are on the threatened species list, makes the case for an Outstanding Biodiversity Value listing even stronger. 

Add survey results that recorded 23 microbat species, a figure unsurpassed anywhere else in NSW, and possibly Australia, and the case appears clear-cut. 

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   8th  May, 2026 under the title: "Proposed Wildlife Conservancy".

ELIZABETH ISLAND

Elizabeth Island in the Clarence River is managed by the Susan and Elizabth Island Recreation Land Manager Board.  The Board manages the regeneration and restoration of both the islands near Grafton. The management plan is to restore the Lowland Rainforest with species that are endemic to the area.

It has obtained a Crown Land Grant for Elizabeth Island for two years consecutively which has helped them to clear weeds and plant native species local to the area.  As the current grant expires at the end of June 2026, the Board is hoping to obtain another grant to continue this work.

The Project Coordinator for Elizabeth Island is Ant van Haren.  Two permanent workers are employed to assist him.  Further work is provided by around 8 to 10 volunteers who go over to the island once a month to weed and plant young trees as well as curtaining more established climbers which cover the large native trees such as Tulipwood.

Tree species growing on the on the 32 ha island include Forest Red Gum, Red Bean, Black Bean, Moreton Bay Fig, Coogera, Native Elms, Giant Stinging Tree, Whalebone, Hairy Birds Eye, Red Bottlebrush and Tulipwood.  Elizabeth and Susan Islands have the southern-most stand of Tulipwood.

Plantings on the island are sourced from Maclean Landcare Nursery and Minnie Waters Nursery as well as from Susan Island.  Seeds from Susan Island are collected and propagated by National Parks officers Wayne Stevens and Matt Clarke and TAFE teacher Gary Clark and then planted on both islands.

Adapted from a report given by Rhonda Coleman at a recent Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition committee meeting.  Rhonda has been volunteering on both Elizabeth and Susan Island working bees for some years.