As residents of Port Melbourne and the surrounding community, we are deeply concerned about plans for a new hyperscale AI data centre at 127 Todd Road, Fishermans Bend.

This is a major new type of development with potentially significant implications for our electricity and water infrastructure, environment, community, economy and public safety. This particular development will also be used for national defence and other mission-critical digital operations that amplify our safety concerns. We are concerned that these broader risks have not been adequately assessed or publicly addressed, and that critical community and emergency-service concerns have not been sufficiently considered.

Hyperscale AI data centres require enormous amounts of electricity and water and generate substantial heat. They also require extensive backup power infrastructure, including diesel generators and potentially other forms of on-site generation. These characteristics create a range of risks and impacts that warrant careful, independent assessment before construction proceeds.

For Port Melbourne and the surrounding area, these concerns include:

• Pressure on electricity infrastructure and costs, given the enormous and growing energy requirements of AI data centres and the potential implications for Victoria's electricity system and consumers.
• Significant water use, particularly for cooling, at a time when water is an increasingly important environmental and infrastructure consideration.
• Fire and emergency-response risks, including the potential hazards associated with large-scale battery energy storage, backup generators and other infrastructure, and the capacity of local emergency services to respond effectively.
• Air pollution and emissions associated with diesel backup generators and any potential gas-fired generation.
• Noise and light pollution, including impacts on nearby residents and local wildlife, including endangered species.
• Environmental impacts, including the potential consequences for Westgate Park and other important local environmental assets.
• National security and resilience risks, given the proposed facility's role in sovereign AI, defence and other mission-critical digital operations, and the need to understand the implications of concentrating critical infrastructure of this nature within an urban community.
• Impacts on the transition to renewable energy, if rapidly increasing electricity demand requires additional fossil-fuel generation or delays the decarbonisation of Victoria's electricity supply.
• Economic and community impacts, including whether the scale of the development will deliver meaningful and lasting local benefits through employment, infrastructure or community investment.
• Risks to the Port of Melbourne and the broader local economy should a major fire, infrastructure failure or other significant incident occur.

We are particularly concerned that these risks require proper assessment before the project proceeds, including meaningful input from local emergency services, environmental experts, infrastructure authorities, affected communities and other relevant stakeholders.

We are calling for action
We call on the Victorian Government to pause the NextDC hyperscale AI data centre project at 127 Todd Road, Fishermans Bend, until a comprehensive and transparent assessment of its potential impacts and risks has been completed and made publicly available.

More broadly, before approving further major hyperscale AI data centre developments across Victoria, the Government should establish a transparent public inquiry into their:

• economic and infrastructure impacts
• electricity and water requirements
• environmental impacts
• employment and community benefits
• fire and emergency-response risks
• noise, light and air pollution
• impacts on surrounding communities and local environmental assets
• implications for Victoria's transition to renewable energy

This process must include genuine community participation and provide clear, transparent evidence that the risks have been properly assessed and that communities hosting these facilities will receive fair and lasting benefits.

We are not opposed to technological progress. We are calling for responsible development, proper assessment and transparency before irreversible decisions are made about developments of this scale.

Please sign this petition and join us in calling on the Victorian Government to pause the 127 Todd Road project and undertake a proper, transparent assessment of its risks and impacts before construction proceeds.