The CLP Government has rejected a motion in Parliament calling for a moratorium on data centres until a public inquiry can investigate their impact, with a Labor MLA warning the CLP is not listening to Territorians at their own peril, specifically in the rural area where the CLP is contradicting its “rural lifestyle” rhetoric by backing a major proposed data centre without consulting residents about its impacts.

Labor Member for Daly Dheran Young said the CLP was ignoring rural residents’ concerns by backing Beetaloo Energy’s massive proposed $40 billion, 2 GW hyperscale data centre at Weddell that has yet to go through any environmental assessments and which he said comes against strong community sentiment from residents in the Goyder and Nelson electorates.

“We have a so-called CLP rural member team over there who are trying to ‘restore the rural lifestyle’ but they fail to listen to their own constituents,” Mr Young said in Parliament Wednesday.

“I ask the Deputy Chief Minister [Gerard Maley] and the Member for Goyder [Andrew Mackay] what meaningful engagement has occurred with rural residents about the water, air quality, noise, roads, land use and local amenity – have you guys held public hearings with your constituents?

“We live in the rural area for a reason, it is because we value our open spaces, natural surroundings and the rural lifestyle.

“[Residents] deserve to know what continuous industrial operations, cooling equipment and large-scale power generation could mean for the noise levels in their community, the air quality and the impacts on nearby wildlife.

“These impacts on the Berry Springs community must be assessed independently, including the cumulative effects of construction and ongoing operations if this is to go ahead.”

Mr Young added that Mr Maley talks about backing the rural area when it comes to economic opportunities but has failed to listen to residents’ concerns “about the environment, their water, their homes and their way of life”. He also said Mr Mackay “has been completely hidden away” on the issue that will have “huge implications for the people of the rural area”.

Mr Young also raised recent revelations that Mr Maley’s sister-in-law works in a “strategic engagement role” for Beetaloo Energy as cause for concern around decision-making transparency. Mr Maley has previously said he disclosed the connection internally in accordance with guidelines.

The moratorium and public inquiry motion was first put by independent MLA Justine Davis but later amended by Business Minister Robyn Cahill to remove all references to the moratorium and inquiry, substituting that the NT Government has signed on to the national framework around AI and data centre standards.

Ms Davis also tabled three petitions with a combined 15,000 names on them calling for the data centre moratorium, although it was unclear how many were Territorians and how many were from interstate.

Ms Cahill dismissed the original motion and said any moratorium on data centres in the NT would negatively impact economic development, while pointing out that Labor approved the construction of the Next DC data centre in the Darwin CBD.

“[A moratorium] means giving our competitors an invitation to take the investment that should be coming here,” she said in Parliament.

“That is not careful planning, it is a blanket ban dressed up as due diligence. Businesses do not suspend their commercial decisions indefinitely while a jurisdiction works out whether it wants them. They compare locations, allocate capital and sign agreements elsewhere.”

Ms Cahill, who previously pitched the NT as the “data centre capital of the globe” without checking with Territorians, added that the Territory’s regulatory bodies would provide the necessary due diligence on data centres, but did not say if those reports would be made public or why Territorians should have trust in those bodies after the government pre-emptively declared it wanted to be a major data centre destination, while bragging that “12 global investors” have engaged in talks to establish data centres here.

Ms Cahill was in Texas last month as part of a trade delegation involving Beetaloo gas development when Texas Governor Gregg Abbott – who had spruiked Texas as the “centrepiece for AI data centres for Google in the entire world” – ordered a sudden temporary moratorium on data centres after feeling political pressure ahead of the US mid-term elections.

“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Mr Abbott said while announcing the temporary moratorium until water and other environmental audits could be completed.

Ms Davis agreed with the sentiment.

“The Territory does not belong to the CLP to give away, we in this Chamber are its caretakers,” she said during debate.

“Our land, water and environment must be protected for the people who live here now and for the generations who follow us.

“That is exactly what this motion calls for: press pause, do the work, publish the evidence, set the rules and then decide what is best for Territorians.

“I urge every member of this Chamber to support this motion because Territorians should come first, just like Texans should come first…before the deals are done, the resources are committed and it is too late to change course.”

Ms Davis’ motion was rejected by the CLP with the amended version containing Ms Cahill’s wording around the federal AI and data centre policy was passed by the CLP with its majority.

The Federal Senate inquiry into AI and data centre development will hold a hearing in Darwin on November 3.