MEDIA RELEASE - ROCKLIFF MUST RULE OUT FARMLAND FOR MYSTERY NOOK DATA CENTRE
27 October 2026
One Nation Tasmania is calling on the Rockliff Government to declare farmland at Nook, near Sheffield, off limits for a 200 to 300 megawatt AI data centre, after confirming it has introduced the unnamed developer to planning authorities while consultants approach local landholders to buy their land.
One Nation Tasmania Leader Lee Hanson said the Premier announced on 14 October that major data centres should be located in appropriate industrial precincts, yet a week later his Government would not say whether that applies to farmland in the Kentish district.
“Twelve days ago the Premier said major data centres belong in industrial precincts. Nook is farming country,” Ms Hanson said.
“When Minister Felix Ellis was asked in Parliament’s energy inquiry whether agricultural land should be used for these facilities, he wouldn’t give a straight answer. He said he wasn’t going to pre-empt the planning process.
“A rule the Government won’t stand behind the first time it’s tested isn’t a rule. It’s a press release.
“The Minister’s explanation was that these companies look for sites near transmission lines and substations. Nook sits next to a recently upgraded substation. If that’s the test, farmland near every substation in the north-west is now in play.
“Run flat out, a 300 megawatt facility would use the equivalent of nearly a quarter of all the electricity Tasmania consumed last financial year. The Government’s own tabled document lists its water needs as ‘not defined’.
“And locals say they first heard about it from a Sydney consultancy ringing to ask whether they’d sell.
“Every farmer has the right to sell their own land, and One Nation will defend that right. But what gets built on it afterwards is a matter for the planning rules, and those rules exist to keep productive land producing for the Tasmanians who come after us.
“One Nation backs investment that leaves Tasmania better off, including sovereign Australian computing capability. But a 300 megawatt industrial plant belongs on industrial land, with the roads and infrastructure built for it, not in the paddocks of the Kentish district.
“So the Government should act on two fronts.
“At Nook, tell this proponent plainly that farmland does not meet the Government’s own expectations, and name the company so the community knows who it is dealing with.
“Everywhere else, fix the gap in the planning system. Tasmania still has no planning category for data centres. Create one, and prohibit large-scale facilities in agricultural and rural zones, so farmland is protected across the state, not just where locals happen to catch wind of a proposal.
“In the meantime, there should be no new major data centre approvals or supply commitments, beyond those already legally binding, until the parliamentary inquiry reports and the cumulative impact on our power, water and infrastructure has been properly assessed. A pause buys time, but farmland needs a permanent rule.
“The Premier made the rule. Now he has to mean it.”
ENDS