Victorian Minister Rejects Footscray Data Centre Push Over AI Lobbying Email

Victoria's jobs minister Melissa Horne has refused to support NextDC's M3 data centre expansion in Footscray and accused chief executive Craig Scroggie of using artificial intelligence to write his lobbying email. The Guardian

NextDC has applied to the Victorian government for fast-tracked approval, a faster planning process with the decision made centrally, to expand M3 to 10 hectares. The expanded hyperscale AI factory, a very large site built for AI computing, would draw 225 megawatts of power and run 24/7. Some homes are within 15 metres of the site boundary.

In early September 2026, Scroggie emailed Horne personally. He urged her to back the M3 expansion while it was being assessed by the planning minister.

Horne replied in writing. She said it would not be appropriate to lend support and she did not wish to. She said the letter contained basic factual errors and appeared to be written by AI. "I suggest that you review content produced by artificial intelligence more closely in the future," she wrote.

NextDC hired Ken McAlpine, a former adviser to the Brumby and Bracks Labor governments, to lobby the Victorian government. Horne's letter was published by Labor MP Katie Hall, whose electorate includes the Footscray data centre. The Guardian

Hall wrote that the M3 site is within 500 metres of over 800 homes, a kindergarten, maternal and child health services, and Stony Creek.

The broader context here is procedural. Fast-track assessment concentrates the decision. It does not remove political accountability. A direct request for a jobs minister to back a live application invites a public refusal. Horne gave one.

In my view, the AI claim works on two levels. It questions diligence. It also gives a basis for refusal that avoids the substance of energy use and land size. Errors, if present, become the story. The project is then left to the formal planning process.

Looking at what this means for siting, proximity is central. A 10-hectare, 225MW facility running continuously next to homes is a hard planning case in an inner urban area. Hall's figures turn technical details into local impact. That is often where opposition organises and members publish correspondence.

In practical terms, the lobbying method carries its own risk. Chief-executive outreach creates a record that can be disclosed. Past government service can add access but not control over that record. The application continues under assessment, where scale, power draw and continuous operation will be judged on planning criteria.