There is an important dimension largely absent from NSW's current proposals for data centre electricity connection and cost recovery, being the rights, interests, cultural and Country responsibilities, and economic opportunities of First Nations people. 

On the proposed reforms, the Network broadly supports their direction.

However, there is an important dimension largely absent from the current proposals, being the rights, interests, cultural and Country responsibilities, and economic opportunities of First Nations people. 

Data centres should not be considered only as buildings connected to an electricity network. Their impacts extend across the infrastructure systems required to service them: renewable generation and storage, transmission and distribution infrastructure, water, land and associated infrastructure. 

This infrastructure will be developed on First Nations Country, including in areas where First Nations people hold legally recognised rights and interests, and much of the associated generation, storage and transmission infrastructure is likely to be located in regional NSW. 

The Network therefore recommends that NSW apply the same system-wide approach it is adopting to electricity infrastructure to First Nations rights, interests and economic participation. 

This should have two complementary objectives. 

First, data centre development must respect First Nations self-determination and ensure that Traditional Owners have genuine choice and agency over development affecting their Country, culture, heritage, water and environment, including through processes consistent with FPIC. 

Second, the extraordinary investment in new electricity supply driven by data centres should be deliberately used to create opportunities for First Nations ownership and economic participation, including by creating demand for First Nations-owned clean energy. 

Recommendations 

1. Recognise the whole infrastructure footprint of data centres, including generation, storage, transmission, distribution and water infrastructure, when considering First Nations rights, interests, impacts and opportunities. 
2. Embed First Nations self-determination, choice, agency and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) into relevant data centre planning, network access and associated infrastructure processes, with engagement occurring while material decisions about location, scale, design and conditions remain open. 
3. Apply established First Nations best-practice principles and leading-practice guidance to data centre development and associated infrastructure, rather than developing a weaker or separate standard for data centres. 
4. Require and resource meaningful First Nations participation. data centre proponents should provide appropriate resources to affected First Nations communities and groups to participate throughout project development, assessment and implementation, including funding for independent legal, technical, commercial, cultural heritage and other advice where required. Engagement timeframes should accommodate First Nations governance and decision-making processes rather than being dictated solely by proponents' development schedules. 
5. Require responsible and transparent water use. data centre proponents should be required to disclose and minimise water consumption, identify the source and infrastructure required to supply water, and assess cumulative impacts on water systems and First Nations Country, rights and cultural values. Affected First Nations people should be engaged and appropriately resourced to participate in decisions about water use and associated infrastructure. 
6. Establish a First Nations clean-energy procurement requirement within requirements for data centres to procure additional renewable energy and firming, initially through an obligation to identify and genuinely test opportunities to procure from, contract with or invest in First Nations-owned and controlled projects. 
7. Develop measurable First Nations procurement and ownership targets for data centre energy procurement as the First Nations clean-energy project pipeline develops. 
8. Include First Nations outcomes as explicit merit criteria in any large load access scheme, including First Nations clean-energy procurement, ownership and equity, protection of Country and culture, First Nations business procurement, employment and training, and benefit sharing. 
9. Require transparent reporting of First Nations outcomes associated with major data centre developments and the energy infrastructure that services them. 
10. Engage and appropriately resource First Nations organisations to participate in developing the proposed large load access scheme and subsequent data centre regulatory reforms. 

Read our submission

The Guarantee of Origin scheme matters because it gives Traditional Owners and First Nations groups a new set of tools to hold developers accountable and to leverage an emerging policy framework for lasting value.

First Nations and Traditional Owners can use the GO Scheme in practice for:

• Leverage in negotiations and an insight into the values of developers
• Pathways to ownership
• Recognition for consent and partnerships
• Economic growth and procurement
• Employment, heritage and benefit-sharing.
  

Read the fact sheet

Traditional Owners and First Nations groups have a new set of tools to hold clean energy developers accountable. 

The Network supports recognising First Nations outcomes through optional attributes on renewable electricity Guarantee of Origin certificates. However, Free, Prior and Informed Consent must be embedded as a core policy principle and a condition of access to government programs.

In Australia, there are now many examples of Traditional Owners developing clean energy projects in partnership with clean energy developers and companies.

This discussion paper looks at how Australian Traditional Owners are taking charge of large-scale clean energy projects on their Country.

Key takeaways include finding that regulatory approvals are likely to be faster where the Traditional Owner group is the owner/co-owner of the project, or substantially involved in the project from an early stage. 

Additional takeaways include:

• Traditional Owners have a legal veto over large-scale clean energy projects.
• Many groups are taking charge of clean energy projects on their Country, far more so than is possible for mining, oil and gas.
• Cultural heritage is easier to protect for clean energy projects than it is for mining, oil and gas projects.
• Traditional Owners must be resourced properly - to undertake their own wind and solar mapping, to obtain legal & financial advice - in order to best benefit from the clean energy transition.

Authors: Dr Lily O’Neill and Dr Kathryn Thorburn, University of Melbourne, published March 2025.

Read the paper

The First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance is working for legislative reforms that entrench First Nations Peoples as key decision-makers and prioritise the protection of cultural heritage.