⏱️This edition of the National Account’s newsletter is a four-minute read.

👋 G’day everyone, Archie here.

I’ll let you know now — because I know so many were waiting: the stand-up comedy I went to on Friday was actually good.

Although I do still believe it’s the biggest gamble you can take when it comes to seeing live entertainment.

Anyway, enough of that.

🗞️ Let’s crack on with today’s news.

❝

If we can make sustainable aviation fuel domestically, it decouples us quite significantly from the international market and gives us an opportunity to be a more resilient in times like we're experiencing at the moment.

CSIRO's Dr Daniel Roberts

🗣️ Why did he say that?

What if the jet fuel powering your next flight was made from timber scraps or farm waste and produced right here in Australia?

With oil prices spiking due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the CSIRO's Doctor Daniel Roberts joined me to discuss what making sustainable aviation fuel could do for our fuel security – and why he thinks the cost of doing nothing is “terrifying”.

Watch the full interview below:

Be my priority 🤓

The federal government says it now has expectations when it comes to new data centres opening in Australia.

These standards don’t stop projects from being approved, but do give those closest aligned the most attention. So what are these expectations?

🤔 EXPECTATIONS: Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres announced the expectations on Monday, outlining data centre companies looking to enter the country would have more success if they:

  • Prioritise Australia’s national interest 

  • Support Australia’s energy transition 

  • Use water sustainably and responsibly 

  • Invest in Australian skills and jobs 

  • Strengthen research, innovation and local capability

The closer a proposed data centre aligns with these expectations the higher priority the government says it will get when it comes to regulatory assessments. 

🇦🇺 NATIONAL INTEREST: The new standards mean data centres are expected to operate for the benefit of the Australian economy, people and their local communities. 

  • Centres need to operate with minimal side effects on their communities and build a good relationship with them. They also need to keep our data safe. 

The Carbon Zero Initiative’s Alex Hoysted commended the federal government for having some standards, but told the National Account he was concerned about the state government response.

🗣️ “Most data centre approvals are done at a state level, we really would have welcomed a little bit more oversight on those approval processes at a federal level,” he said.

💰 COUGH UP: Senator David Pocock said he’s looking forward to seeing more details on the government’s expectations and said, “we need to make sure multinational tech giants wanting to build [data centres] here pay tax.”

Read the whole article below👇

Australia tells data centres to play by its rules or go to the back of the queue

The strategy? Meet my standards and you’ll be the priority.

www.nationalaccount.com.au/p/australia-tells-data-centres-to-play-by-its-rules-or-go-to-the-back-of-the-queue

Thanks for catching up with me. If you have any thoughts on these newsletters or ideas for what I should cover, just click reply and write away.

No idea is too silly, trust me.

I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Cheers, Archie

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