By Josh Taylor
Publication Date: 2026-05-02 20:00:00
WWhen West Footscray resident Sean Brown takes his 19-month-old boy to the park, their stroll passes an impressive new building cheerfully described as “Australia’s largest hyperscale AI factory,” a data center called M3.
He hates it: the construction noise of the constant expansion, the looming towers and the insistent background hum, the exhaust fumes from the ever-increasing diesel generators that power the rows of servers inside.
And he worries about what this means for his young child’s future.
“It grows — neurologically, pulmonaryly, physically — in the shadow of a facility whose cumulative environmental impact … has never been assessed,” Brown says.
“They’re building something that, quite frankly, is terrible for the community. There are no benefits and it’s just getting worse.”
The Center has already grown many times over, fueling the boundless appetites of this age of digital services and generative AI. An accelerated building permit should be issued by the end of 2027…
