We’re spending bucket loads on the thing that could kill us. Here’s why

June 12, 2026 — 11:55am

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After years of hearing about sluggish business investment – and how it’s a big reason we struggle to lift our living standards – you would think the recent surge would be a good thing.

And in many ways, it is. The most recent “national accounts” – a set of data gathered and shared every three months by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – showed business investment was the largest contributor to economic growth in the three months to March.

Business investment: spending by private businesses on things such as machinery and equipment, is important for growing the economy but also for increasing how much we all share in that growth.

Generally, when businesses invest in things that help us do our work more easily, it means we use fewer of our scarce resources (whether that’s ingredients, material, or time we spend working) to supply goods and services. That helps us become better off on average because we can have more of what we want and need.

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Stephen BartholomeuszSenior business columnist

Senior business columnist

Over the March quarter, private investment grew 3.6 per cent and the economy grew 0.3 per cent. The biggest driver? Business investment in machinery and equipment (up 16 per cent), largely made up of data centres across New South Wales and Victoria.

These are the engine room for modern websites, cloud applications and AI platforms, and as artificial intelligence has exploded in popularity, we’ve needed more of them to meet demand.

But data centres also come at a cost.

Most people, for example, know about the huge amount of water and energy guzzled up by these facilities. By 2030, the Australian Energy Market Operator reckons data centres will need as much electricity as all the households in Victoria.

Earlier this week, assistant minister for science and technology, Dr Andrew Charlton, said in a speech that data centres would be forced to wind down power use at peak times to prevent blackouts or strain on the grid, and that........

© The Sydney Morning Herald