Big data on the ballot – Australia’s download from the US midterms

Detailed summary

If Australia doesn't get the rules around data centres right, the lesson from the US shows they risk breaking bills and grids. And prompting a fierce voter backlash.

The US midterms are done, and a resounding result is that data centres can now turn an election. Australian policy makers take note.

In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa ended three decades of Republican rule, defeating Governor Greg Abbott after promising a ban on new data centre approvals. Abbott had already frozen approvals in August. It was not enough.

In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown won back a Senate seat after branding his opponent “the face of data centers in Ohio”. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship after calling for a pause on new projects. And in 40 of 41 local ballot measures across ten states, voters chose to restrict or reject data centres.

Like Australia, cost-of-living was the number one issue in the US midterms. The download here is that American voters blamed data centres for contributing to their woes.

Opening of the article, excerpted from RenewEconomy. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.