Chief Minister Andrew Barr has ruled out co-locating data centres with Canberra’s public swimming pools ahead of an ACT Greens proposal to be debated in the Legislative Assembly this week.

Mr Barr says the government supports efforts to improve energy efficiency, including recovering waste heat from data centres, but public aquatic facilities are not appropriate locations for the infrastructure.

“Public pools are important community assets that support recreation, health, learn-to-swim programs and sporting activity across Canberra,” Mr Barr says.

“They should be planned, protected and developed for those purposes.”

Mr Barr says he has formally advised ACT Greens Leader Jo Clay of Labor’s opposition to the proposal.

The government is instead developing an ACT Data Centre Framework to determine where future facilities can be built and the standards they will have to meet.

Existing planning rules restrict data centres to designated commercial, industrial, transport and services, and certain non-urban zones, and prevent them being built in residential neighbourhoods.

The framework will consider issues including energy and water use, infrastructure requirements and appropriate locations for future development. The government is consulting industry and other stakeholders and expects to release a draft in early 2027.

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