Data centres could deliver ‘megabucks’ for Australia, says Scott Farquhar

Australia can play a world-leading role in the development of data centres, Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has claimed, a move he says could help the nation become a leader in artificial intelligence innovation.

Scott Farquhar, left, and Mike Cannon-Brookes at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Australia can play a world-leading role in the development of data centres, Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has claimed, a move he says could help the nation spearhead the development of artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, the former Atlassian co-chief executive who now serves as chairman of the Tech Council of Australia, unveiled a series of policies advocated by the lobby group ahead of Labor’s economic reform roundtable, which he will attend, next month.

Chief among them was the proposal that Australia serve as a Southeast Asian hub for energy-hungry data centres in response to soaring demand driven by the rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Mr Farquhar encouraged Australia to become a global provider of data centres. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Farquhar said Australia could become the data centre provider of choice for governments in the region and beyond, arguing the nation’s comparatively cheap green energy and local talent meant it “scores well” when tech companies assess locations. “We are surprisingly cost competitive [in] building data centres,” he said. “We have the talent density and attractively priced green power.”

One of Mr Farquhar’s more unconventional proposals was the establishment of “digital embassies”, where the laws of the host country would apply much like they do on the grounds of traditional diplomatic missions.

This, he said, would allay sovereignty concerns, as the sites would be subject to foreign laws and protections.

He also agitated for urgent changes to Australian copyright laws, arguing watering them down could unleash billions of dollars in foreign investment.

He maintained that they were “out of sync” with the rest of the world given Australia had not ­established exemptions for fair use for text and data mining, arguing they posed a “barrier” to AI companies that wanted to train or host their models locally. The practice of training AI models on copyrighted materials has sparked an intense backlash among publishers, who risk having their intellectual property being used without consent or compensation.

Mr Cannon-Brookes with his EA, Faye Stirling, front, and chief of staff Amy Glancey, right. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Farquhar pointed to companies which had signed formal agreements with some publishers to access copyrighted material, such as that between Open AI and News Corp (the owner of The Australian), encouraging such deals as opposed to a broad regulatory clampdown.

“There are things explored out there but I want that to be done on a business-by-business sense, rather than every person,” he said. “When the whole government says nothing can be used, that is not useful.”

He called for greater AI adoption across the government, urging the public service to partner with business to fast track bureaucratic proposals such as housing approvals.

“Interacting with the courts, renewing a licence, applying for a passport, claiming the childcare subsidy should all be possible electronically and embedded in third-party applications,” he said.