Mega datacentre planned for outer Melbourne will be six times bigger than a large shopping centre
A proposed AI datacenter in outer Melbourne, backed by Syncline Energy, would be roughly six times the size of a large shopping center. More than 3,600 residents have signed a petition calling for a careful environmental and planning assessment before the project moves forward.
Why this matters: Big datacenters tend to land in places where land is cheap and pushback is expected to be quiet. That calculus is failing here. Residents are organizing, and this project has become a test case for how Australia handles the infrastructure rush behind the AI boom. The real issues are concrete: power draw, water use, noise, and what happens to a neighborhood built around a facility that size. A friendly letter in the mailbox is not a community consultation. The petition suggests people know the difference.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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