🪫 Data centres and native woodlands

Plus: Political donations and farm tech.

Author

Jacob Wallace
June 24, 2026

⏱️ This Wednesday edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

📸 There’s plenty goings on around the grounds in Gippsland this week, but before we dive in, here’s another 35mm snap I took along the cliffs of the George Bass Coastal Walk.

🎤 On Monday, I spoke to Bass Coast Shire councillor Jon Temby about the council’s push for interim powers to protect a large part of the Western Port Woodlands from mining developments.

The council has written to the Victorian Minister for Planning twice, urging her to expedite the assessment process for an Environmental Significance Overlay.

❝

The woodlands are the last refuge for a large number of endangered species. It's a place our great grandchildren should be able to visit and enjoy. We need to look after it.

Bass Coast Shire councillor Jon Temby

👀 Looking ahead. In this week’s newsletter we’re talking about:

  • 🪫 What will power Gippsland’s new data centre development;

  • 🌿 Bass Coast Shire’s push to protect the Western Port Woodlands;

  • 💰 How new political donations laws in Victoria could benefit the major parties;

  • 💧 A new irrigation tech aiming to save farmers time, water a money;

  • 📅 What’s on in Gippsland in July, and;

  • ❄️ How El Niño will impact Australia’s snow season.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

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🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

Data centres are becoming a larger part of Australia’s economy, with tech companies like Microsoft investing billions of dollars into building the energy and water-hungry warehouses across the country.

Now, centres are being built in Gippsland – prompting questions about how they will be powered.

What happened: On January 15, Singaporean company Keppel announced it had secured the rights to lease a 123-hectare site at Hazelwood to build and operate a data centre. 

Part of the reason the company used to justify the site was it would be able to run on the numerous clean energy projects in the Latrobe Valley.

  • The site is within one of Gippsland’s Renewable Energy Zones (REZ), which the company said will help give the centre access to reliable and cheap energy.

Data centres use electricity and, in theory, can be run on 100 percent clean energy. The problem is that our electricity grid is not yet clean.

Will they do it? Research Associate of Strategic Technologies at the United States Studies Centre, Johanna Lim, told the Monitor a lot of data centre companies are committed to running on 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

  • 🗣️ “Energy costs are one of the biggest expenses for data centres so there is an incentive to use cheaper renewable energy,” Lim said.

The problem: While around 35 percent of the electricity in Victoria comes from solar, wind and hydro projects, roughly 60 percent is still powered by burning brown coal. 

  • Victoria is shooting for the grid to be powered by 65 percent renewables by 2030.

If the rate at which data centres are built outpaces the roll-out of new renewable energy, it means more coal and gas burnt. 

  • According to projections from the Climate Change Authority, the Australian government’s scientific and economic advisors on how to cut emissions, this is currently what is happening.

💰 Victoria has capped political donations, but major parties are still getting millions

Five months before Victorians head to the polls, the state parliament has rushed through new political donation laws it says will level the playing field.

But the new system could hand major parties around $11 million in taxpayer funds. 

How are the major parties maintaining a massive financial advantage – and could these new rules end up back in the court?

The National Account’s Archie Milligan has the rundown:

Image credit: The Western Port Intertidal Coastal Reserve at Temby Point by Tran Sformr, 2022.

Bass Coast Shire Council has once again urged the state government for new powers to protect the Western Port Woodlands from habitat loss as mining companies seek to clear native vegetation for new developments.

What happened: Last week, Bass Coast councillors unanimously voted to write again to the Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny, urging her to expedite the assessment process they requested in May to place an Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO) over part of the Woodlands.

All that’s left: The Western Port Woodlands are Victoria's largest remnant of intact coastal woodlands. They stretch from Lang Lang to Grantville along the eastern shore of Western Port Bay.

  • The council is seeking an interim ESO over part of the woodlands that will expire on May 31 2028, allowing the shire time to determine the scope of new permanent planning controls to protect the woodlands.

The area Bass Coast Shire Council is seeking an interim ESO for.

Save Western Port Woodlands campaigner Catherine Watson told the Monitor she was delighted the council is pushing for interim protection.

🗣️ “We know they're doing the work for permanent protection, but the woodlands will continue to be whittled away in the meantime if there's no interim measure in place,” Watson said.

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🎊 It might be a little bit chilly outside – but that doesn’t mean it’s time to hibernate.

Whether you’re into dirt biking, whale watching, rally racing or truffle hunting, there’s plenty to do this month.

To help you plan ahead, the Monitor has compiled a list.

📧 If you have any suggestions you’d like to share please email us at [email protected].

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

How will an El Niño weather event impact Australia’s snow season?

I spoke to my colleague Archie Milligan on his National Account podcast about a couple of stories I wrote recently around the announcement of an El Niño weather event and what that means for Australia’s snow season.

Check out the full chat below.

🎥 Watch: New irrigation system aims to cut water use and power bills for Gippsland farmer

The uneven land Stuart Jennings’ farm is located on can make watering his spuds difficult.

If his irrigation hose is at the bottom of the hill, it tends to let out more water because gravity is pushing more out.

This leads to potatoes at the bottom getting too wet, which can lead to disease and rot, while spuds at the top are under-watered.

🤝 The solution: Jennings owns and operates a 600-acre sheep and potato farm in the hilly Strzelecki Ranges of Thorpdale. He is trialling an automated pump system for his paddocks that aims to reduce power and water use, stopping patches getting too wet or too dry.

The Monitor visited Jennings Thorpdale farm to chat about the trial. Read the full story here or take a look at a video interview and explainer below.

☎️ Call out. Next week, I’m thinking about writing a story around Gippsland’s greenhouses, how new technology is automating the processes of growing food in them and how they could become increasingly common in a drier climate.

If you work in a greenhouse or know someone who does, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue, and I’ll be back in your inbox with more local yarns on Friday morning.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team