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News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Jim Chalmers' three-day roundtable builds consensus on road user charge, clearing housing approvals backlog
Progressing road user charging and clearing a backlog on homes awaiting environmental approvals are among the 10 immediate reform directions to result from a three-day roundtable aimed to boost Australia's ailing productivity levels. Speaking after talks ended on Thursday, Jim Chalmers said there was 'a lot of conceptual support for road user charging', however no final model had been settled. The next steps will involve presenting an options paper to state treasurers at a meeting in two weeks on September 5, which would be drafted by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and other relevant ministers. 'The model is not determined, but the key considerations are what's in and out and whether that's sequenced or not and over how long a time period,' he said. 'Treasurer Mookhey was very informed and very constructive on this question and really right around the table people had a view that this is an idea whose time has come and so we will do that work.' The charge, which would likely capture EV drivers currently exempt from the fuel excise, would reform how the government collects revenue to fund road maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. Other short-term reform initiatives involve fast-tracking deadlocked reforms on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act to speed up approvals for projects while protecting the environment, and further work to remove nuisance tariffs and regulation reductions. Speeding up housing approvals was another 'quick win' which achieved consensus following 29 hours of discussions, with Environmental Minister Murray Watt set to work with Housing Minister Clare O'Neil to speed through the 'backlog of environmental approvals for new homes, most likely in the tens of thousands'. Longer-term reform areas included investigating prefabricated and modular housing, plus more modern methods of construction to increasing housing supply. Mr Chalmers also highlighted three priority areas of tax reform, which dominated the last day of talks, and appeared to achieve little consensus beyond agreement on the need for reform. This included improving intergenerational equality, 'affordable, responsible' offsets to 'incentivise business investment', and a simpler and more sustainable system to fund services such as aged care and the NDIS. 'There are hundreds of different changes you can make to the tax system. Some of them obviously unpalatable to our government or to governments broadly,' he said. 'But what they wanted to do was to give us the guidance that they will help us in those three areas to do the work that we need to do to inform future budgets.' Speaking more broadly about the roundtable, which had been criticised as a 'talkfest' and a 'stitch up' by the opposition, Mr Chalmers said he 'finished the three days more optimistic than I was at the start'. He also praised participants for working through the issues in a 'methodical, considered, consultative way'. 'I'm genuine when I say at the end of that three days I looked around the table and I saw people of, you know, big achievers in their own areas representing workers, business CEOs, academics, economists, public servants and others,' he said. 'I drew great strength and confidence from their contributions because not because they had some kind of faux camaraderie, but because they take the challenge so seriously.'

News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
AI's next crisis isn't electricity or even sentience, it's something far more essential to both humans and machines
In Frank Herbert's best-selling novel Dune, a peculiar and dystopian premise was put to the world. What if water became so scarce that it turned into a currency, culture, and religion? A planet where the super-rich schemed to control the most crucial finite resource known to man. Similar themes were touched on in Mad Max, and we all know how grim that depiction of Australia looked. Unfortunately, art really does imitate life in some cases. About 25 per cent of countries on Earth face chronic water scarcity – and that's just drinking water. But now, the world's most influential tech figures are in a bind over exactly how to source enough just to keep their AI servers afloat. Nobody expected that we'd be having this conversation a few short years into the AI boom, but Europe is steaming towards an ugly crossroad. With record heatwaves, raging wildfires, and prolonged droughts sweeping across the continent, the crisis no longer lies in the skies or on the ground. The problem is in the digital cloud, and specifically, how to keep that cloud from overheating. While millions around the world sit glued to their screens incessantly using artificial intelligence for everyday tasks, AI data centres have developed their own enormous addictions. According to experts from leading data and analytics firm GlobalData, the issue of water scarcity has now outstripped skyrocketing electricity demands. 'Climate change has produced weather patterns from wildfires to flash floods that are becoming more extreme worldwide,' Robert Pritchard, Principal Analyst at GlobalData, says. 'Superheated ground results in less rain getting absorbed into aquifers and instead running over dry soil, often destroying lives and livelihoods. 'Climate change also means that the requirement for water to cool the ever-expanding base of data centres is likely to become an issue that needs addressing.' It gets a bit wild once you start crunching the numbers. A 2023 OECD study estimated that AI systems will consume between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic metres of water per year by 2027. That's more than the annual water use of Denmark, or nearly half the entire United Kingdom. Most of it is used to cool high-performance computing clusters powering large language models. But as models grow larger and demand scale ups, so does the drain on freshwater supplies. With tensions mounting, some cities have actually started pushing back. Singapore and Dublin have already paused or blocked new data centre construction over fears that water and energy systems were becoming dangerously strained. 'Data centre providers are using technology innovations to try to address the energy demands of their growth, particularly given the explosion of artificial intelligence,' Mr Pritchard said. While alternatives like air cooling or immersion systems exist, water remains the industry's most cost-effective and reliable solution. 'As with most things in tech, solutions will be found for the emerging challenges. The problem, however, is that any solutions must be set within the context of climate change and the immediate impact it is having on citizens' lives,' Mr Pritchard continued. 'It is a political issue and a social issue, not just a technology issue.' I know what you're thinking. Why not seawater? Unfortunately, the issue isn't as simple as scooping out a few litres from the Pacific every year. Seawater just isn't practical for cooling data centres because it's highly corrosive and requires extensive treatment before it can be used safely. Salt content can damage pipes, heat exchangers, and other infrastructure, leading to higher maintenance costs and reliability risks. Even when used indirectly, it still needs to be filtered, desalinated, or chemically treated to avoid corrosion, scaling, and biofouling. In short, the process of treating seawater for cooling use is just too costly. And unlike electricity, which can at least be temporarily backed up with generators, freshwater has no substitute. 'There is no water equivalent of carbon credits to hide behind, obfuscation tactics that have often saved blushes among greenwashers,' Mr Pritchard said. 'On top of that is the potential threat of terrorist attacks on critical water infrastructure, which looks like far more of an important issue.' The problem is humanity's crippling addiction to technological progress and automation isn't going to stop any time soon. The data centres will continue to be built and more GPT updates will be coming in hot. Too hot, evidently. Welcome to Arrakis, folks.

News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Vacuum cleaner makes a break for freedom after developing ‘mind of its own'
It was a daring escape that ended in disaster – a robot vacuum cleaner that made a break for freedom only to be mowed down by a passing car. The Dreame Tech appliance, which costs anywhere between $600 and $3000, met an unfortunate end after exiting from a guesthouse in Montville, Queensland on Monday. Footage shows the vacuum hastily making its way down a driveway before speeding onto the road, only to be wiped out by a grey Subaru. Moments later, a resident can be seen walking over to the now-corpse of the robot vacuum before carrying it back to safety. Snake catcher and owner of the robot, Stuart McKenzie, wrote a heartfelt tribute to his vacuum on social media, following its untimely death. 'Being a 24/7 snake catcher means we don't have a lot of spare time for general chores, so my wife and I got a Robo vacuum,' he wrote. 'Today our hard working Robo vacuum decided to leave its 'Mapped Out Area' and go for a wander out the front door of the house and onto the road and got hit by a car. 'Obviously, it was an accident that the person ran it over as it would have been hard to see in the shadows. (The driver) felt horrible but was also confused about why a Robo vacuum would be on the road. 'Either way, we are now confused why our Robo decided he wanted to leave? We always leave the door open when we are up there, and he has never done this … 'Did we work him too hard? Was he not happy with his working conditions? Did he develop a mind of his own? 'Hopefully Dreame Tech can explain to me why my robot vacuum decided to up and leave for the first time ever in 12 months.' The footage, which has been viewed over 700,000 times, left viewers in stitches over the unfortunate incident. 'I shouldn't laugh but my son had his RoboVac go rogue on him as well. He got an alert to advise him the vac was in trouble. He got home to find it had pushed a screen door open and was hanging over a three metre drop,' one viewer wrote. 'Rest in pieces,' another commented. 'It was gathering intel for the great robot uprising. That lady did us a favour by running it over,' a third joked.