Please pause before committing our money to data centres
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Take a deep breath
Already we are debating issues around the creation of data centres. It took only 73 days to overcome planning hurdles. The state government is now grappling with how to reward the companies responsible for the lines and poles that feed these power-hungry (apply both meanings) places (‴Speculative’ surge: The $260m fight over western Melbourne’s AI boom”, 28/2).
Water companies will be next. This is before we have had the complex, but absolutely essential, debates around our unrestricted need for AI. How exactly is AI enriching our quality of life?
Once data centres are in place, these conversations will be irrelevant because the economics will demand they be maintained.
Politicians should take a deep breath before committing our money, electricity and water, to questionable data centres.
Howard Tankey, Box Hill North
You can pay for it
Power infrastructure company Jemena’s “tug of war” tells the whole story of who will end up paying for the surge in data centre energy consumption (‴Speculative’ surge: The $260m fight over western Melbourne’s AI boom”, 28/2).
A major increase in generation capacity plus pole and wires investment will doubtless get passed back to the average residential consumer adding to
power costs and thus cost of living pressures.
The question of who pays for this is being better dealt with in jurisdictions where data centres are required to invest to provide their own power (and cooling water). Let us hope that lesson is well learnt here before too many of these centres get installed.
Robert Brown, Camberwell
Woolies IA rather rude
I read with interest the descriptions of people’s unusual encounters with an Woolworths AI tool “Woolworths forced to rein in chatbot that claimed to have angry mother”, 27/2.
My daughter recently applied for a low level position at the liquor outlet of a suburban Woolworths. In her case, an AI tool called Sapia managed the interview process by asking a series of questions.
“She” then proceeded to develop an inaccurate and mildly insulting personality profile based on my daughter’s answers, followed by a list of assumptions about how these qualities might affect her work style. These assumptions were the opposite of what one might assume based on the personality profile.
Sapia then required a video to be emailed; to prove my daughter’s authenticity, perhaps? There was no assurance of privacy or any indication of who might have access to the video.
Needless to say, she soured on the idea of this job. Should a business that’s present in most suburbs be this baffling and impenetrable?|
Abby McKee, Greensborough
Quiet achiever
Thank you for your article “Legendary restaurateur Con Christopoulos sits down for a rare interview”, 28/2) .
It’s always the quiet achievers who display our city’s lovely character unlike those who like to blow their own trumpet with relentless self-promotion and a highly inflated ego as well.
Mel Smith, Brighton
Albo, Grace
No winners! Albanese: 0. Tame:0. It’s obvious. The “difficult woman” trope is straight out of the paternal playbook, and the invitation to the Israeli president was a divisive mistake.
The pejorative “old man” is straight out of the ageist playbook. and screaming “globalise the intifada” into a megaphone was a divisive mistake.
Pauline Brandon, Beechworth
Politics is brutal
Terrible to hear what Tim Wilson had to endure in Bentleigh East last Thursday night. (“Tim Wilson sold his house after election campaign safety fears”, 27/). I hope is OK and I extend my best wishes to him and his family.
Similarly, I deplore what the likes of Josh Burns in St Kilda have had to endure, too. And for our prime minister, the evacuation of the Lodge must have been terrifying.
Lord Melbourne once noted that politics is a noble profession. It can obviously be brutal and heartbreaking, too.
Theo Giantsos, East St Kilda
Sardine solutions
I am fascinated with the short-sighted housing policies of Victorian Labor and Liberals … it’s one dimensional, it’s all about Melbourne.
We have a wonderful state and living away from Melbourne is a more invigorating and healthy environment.
My wife and I moved years ago, and we are not going back. I come back to visit regularly but gee, I am glad when I get past Werribee and all that clutter and smog and congestion.
The biggest issue though is the lack of infrastructure spending away of Melbourne. Would any pollie have any idea what could be achieved with infrastructure – spend on decent roads, rail, schools, hospitals and sporting facilities in the country?
I doubt it. They are singularly focused on sardine solutions in Melbourne with no infrastructure just taxation plans.
Maybe, it’s better that they don’t look over the fence and just leave our rural communities as they are, they may just muck it up.
Keith Hawkins, Point Lonsdale
Bank charges
My NAB visa card interest rate will be rising from current 13.99% to a stunning 20.99 per cent from April 2026. Approximately 50 per cent increase.
Is this another version of a bank robbery?
Walter Renfrey, Carnegie
Medical inattention
I read Hannah Kennelly’s opinion piece (“I was 10 when I started feeling the pain, but well into adulthood before anyone believed me”, 27/2) with great interest. I do not have endometriosis, like Hannah describes, so I cannot fully understand her experiences, but I empathise with the overwhelming sentiment and “common denominator” that she describes: that (a woman’s) personal experiences of pain and the treatment of (female) bodies should be done with dignity and respect by medical professionals.
I have been lucky enough myself to have experienced some wonderful health professionals who have listened to, and nurtured my experience of pain.
However, I have also experienced the flip side, where medical professionals, often junior or in training, are seemingly on a personal endeavour for power, control and status, leaving little room for being “heard”.
I have been privy to complaints from patients about their personal experiences of medical treatment, with seemingly little to no accountability or explanation taken by the healthcare system, and with an obvious desire to brush things over. One of the fundamental principles of the healthcare system is dedicated to serving the interests of the patient, and prioritising their needs over market forces or societal pressures. How then can these experiences be rationalised?
Name and address supplied
Distilled columnist
I’ll greatly miss Stephen Brook’s (“CBD farewell”, 27/2) skilfull writing where he distilled so much into one sentence, it often took a second read to fully appreciate it.
Howard Bishop, Brighton East
Paws clause
Re sharing of medical reports (Letters, 28/2). I was caring for a cousin’s dog not long ago and had to take it to my vet after she appeared to collapse. I asked for a copy of her records to give my cousin and was informed it could only be given to another vet or an insurance company. It seems lack of ease accessing medical records does not just apply to humans.
Kristen Hurley, Seaholme
Ron way ahead
Ron Barassi deserves that MCG Way named after him, but I’ll miss good old Brunton Avenue.
Ian Macdonald, Traralgon
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