What planet is the Planning Minister on where he thinks a 288MW data centre isn’t a major project?
MEDIA RELEASE 28 AUGUST 2026
What planet is the Planning Minister on where he thinks a 288 MW data centre isn’t a major project?
With George Town Council Mayor Keiser and Councillor Lowe both stating that Minister Kerry Vincent refused to consider the Bell Bay AI Data Centre as a state planning project it’s clear the planning pathway has failed the community and has further eroded public trust in AI Data Centres and this Government.
Now Mayor of Latrobe Council, Peter Freshney, faced with a development application for an AI Data centre in his municipality is also saying that these projects shouldn’t be going to Council for approval, that they are too complicated.
It was this government that introduced the major projects pathway in 2020. The eligibility criteria for declaration as a major project are that the project has two or more the following attributes
(a) the project will have a significant impact on, or make a significant contribution to, a region’s economy, environment or social fabric;
(b) the project is of strategic importance to a region;
(c) the project is of significant scale and complexity.
During the second reading speech, the Liberal Planning Minister, Roger Jaensch said “The Government’s view is that projects with the potential to make substantial impacts on, or contributions to, a region, should be able to be assessed by independent expert panels”, through the major projects pathway.
So is Planning Minister Vincent and the government saying these developments will not make a significant contribution to the region’s economy?
I, along with public opinion would beg to differ. How is a billion-dollar project using as much energy as the state’s entire domestic market not considered significant in scale?
The clear inference for everybody is the Government wants AI Data Centres waved through quickly, and the best way to do that was through the local government pathway, rather than the independent scrutiny of a panel which allows for much greater involvement from the public and consideration of issues beyond those to which the Council is limited to considering.
Ultimately, it highlights how the current planning system can be gamed by cashed up developers and a supine planning Minister, and that is something the Inquiry into AI Data Centres in Tasmania must address.