Backlash, ‘disaster’ warnings and economic grievances: How Firmus became a political problem
The ASX-bound startup is building a $2.1 billion AI factory in Tasmania with the support of the state government. But political opposition is mounting.
The community resistance to mass data centre rollouts, that has reached fever pitch in America, is now finding fertile ground in Australia.
Few predicted Tasmania would emerge as the domestic hotbed of resistance. But it is less surprising that Oliver Curtis’ AI company Firmus, which continues to divide the local investment community, is one of the first to feel political backlash at home.
Despite highly publicised concerns over the company’s environmental credentials, IPO strategy, and Curtis’ own backstory, Firmus’ ambitions for a $2.1 billion AI factory campus in Launceston appear to have the whole-hearted support of the local Liberal government — much to the dismay of its opponents.
“Journalists across this country and MPs right across this chamber are questioning what exactly is the Tasmanian government’s role in backing Firmus,” Greens MP Tabatha Badger told the state’s lower house in a recent debate.
