![\"Cassandra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793190619_197_055c3fcc2ff9c372698d8bffaa46e198063e316a.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
October 28, 2026 \u2014 7:50pm<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Along a battered road in Melbourne\u2019s west, turnouts are carved into dirt between hundreds of hectares of open fields and empty paddocks.<\/p>\n Victoria University rises out of the landscape. The institution is behind the state\u2019s first data centre academy, which offers courses for those who want to work in the burgeoning sector.<\/p>\n The centres dwarf local neighbourhoods<\/a>, and their annoying humming and hungry demands<\/a> for the state\u2019s power and water<\/a> make them plenty of enemies. But some locals are asking a radical question: what if data centres worked for us? Instead of banning them, what if they provided their neighbours with the fastest internet speeds in Australia?<\/p>\n The West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance<\/a> (WoMEDA) has mapped about 40 data centres in the west, including 14 operational or expanding facilities, 11 under construction and seven granted approvals (several more were excluded from the count because their prospects are too uncertain). <\/p>\n With more on the way, developers should extend their fibre optic cabling beyond data centres and into \u201ccommuter suburbs\u201d, transforming them into high-tech precincts with the equivalent of the fastest data speeds in Australia, the alliance said.<\/p>\n Related Article Case in point: Werribee and East Werribee \u2013 the latter with its 775 hectares of predominantly undeveloped land, earmarked by the Victorian government<\/a> for housing, jobs and community services over the next three decades.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause a major data centre cluster exists in and around Truganina, having direct fibre run through to Werribee and East Werribee would eliminate long-distance routing,\u201d the alliance of local public and private sector leaders<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal businesses would experience sub-millisecond round-trip response times \u2013 making local processing feel instantaneous compared to standard connections.<\/p>\n \u201cThe result of building this infrastructure would be to elevate this outer-western suburb to 100 per cent parity with Australia\u2019s top tier financial and technology districts, while giving them an unparalleled local latency advantage due to their proximity to the west\u2019s data centre cluster.\u201d<\/p>\n WoMEDA board member Kelvyn Lavelle is standing in the front of Victoria University, gesturing to the great expanses of flat land around him. The land\u2019s affordability, nearby water recycling facilities and the resident university\u2019s data centre academy (which opened earlier this year at its Footscray campus<\/a>) are the west\u2019s biggest drawcards for data centres.<\/p>\n \u2018[It] gives businesses a choice whether they want to be located in the CBD or Werribee.\u2019<\/p>\n WoMEDA board member Kelvyn Lavelle<\/p>\n The data centre sector is forecast to double its workforce by 2030, Victoria University\u2019s John Burgess says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe academy was established to address a significant gap in the market,\u201d said Burgess, head of the university\u2019s Microsoft data centre academy program.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile demand for skilled workers is growing rapidly, there is currently no dedicated nationally accredited training pathway for many operational roles within data centres.\u201d<\/p>\n Lavelle says the arrival of data centres in the area is serendipitous, coinciding with an influx of advanced manufacturing, advanced logistics businesses, food and agribusinesses, and emerging health and research investment in the west.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The densest concentration of data centres in the region is in the Wyndham and Brimbank council areas (with the most in train and operational, respectively).<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t need to look any further than, say, East Werribee, because it\u2019s large enough and sufficiently undeveloped enough to mean the digital infrastructure, research institutions, advanced industry and employment precincts can really benefit from being designed around access to high-speed optic fibre without any retrofitting,\u201d Lavelle said.<\/p>\n \u201c[It] gives businesses a choice whether they want to be located in the CBD or \u2026 Werribee, which is so beautifully positioned between CBD Melbourne, Geelong, the Surf Coast or other parts of the west.\u201d<\/p>\n The push for data centres to give back more to the community is one in a suite of demands in WoMEDA\u2019s western growth update report, one year on from the alliance\u2019s West of Melbourne Summit<\/a>, presented with The Age.<\/p>\n Up the road from the university, on Werribee\u2019s main street of Watton \u2013 a long and laid-back neighbourhood strip of diverse shops, cafes and restaurants \u2013 businesses are overwhelmingly in favour of the proposal for data centres to pay their way with better internet for the community.<\/p>\n Staff at Aussizz Migration Agents and Education Consultants are deep in conversation with clients when The Age visits on a Tuesday afternoon, and operations manager Priti Patel emerges into the foyer after a few minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it is a good idea because the internet gets faster,\u201d Patel said. \u201cWe are an internet-based business<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re making networks stronger, that would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n At K-Leaf Dispensary, a few doors up, pharmacist Zheming Zhao agreed. \u201cWhat they said is dead spot on,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the data centres move in and can build infrastructure for Werribee, that\u2019s a positive for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Barrister to Barista cafe manager Vishal Sharma said crime was up in Werribee, while business investment was down \u2013 so anything that improved the local economy would be a good thing.<\/p>\n \u201cJapan already launched 6G, and we are still far behind for internet,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cIf we\u2019re getting an upgrade, I think that\u2019s good for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Related But not everyone is convinced. Local Greg asked for his surname not to be published, afraid his views would stir controversy. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s going to sway any opinions,\u201d Greg said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re thinking that everyone has a price and this is going to win people over.\u201d<\/p>\n If the proposal went ahead, the people of Melbourne\u2019s west would have better internet, Greg said. But at what cost?<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny laid out Victorian Labor\u2019s expectations for data centres<\/a>, including that they give a local investment guarantee \u201cabove and beyond the regulatory and compliance expectations\u201d to deliver a proportionate, enduring and measurable local impact.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Victoria, we set the rules \u2013 data centres must power themselves, be built away from homes and pay their way,\u201d a Labor spokesman said.<\/p>\n An opposition spokesman said that under a Liberal and Nationals government, data centres would not be built in residential areas, next to residential areas or in the green wedge.<\/p>\n However, they will be \u201can important part of Victoria\u2019s future\u201d, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will be built in designated data centre precincts that are appropriately distanced from where people live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A source close to NextDC, Australia\u2019s largest listed data centre developer, said the company hadn\u2019t signed on to the idea of extending fibre optic cabling to the suburbs, but it was reviewing its process for community engagement.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"West](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/62ff11b291251500ead3adcd6ca55a3585685a23.jpeg\")
West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance board member Kelvyn Lavelle at East Werribee.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n![\"NextDC\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/d8797867bf242e5c8b5338a78893c17846276c38.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Barrister](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/06bc4e26b94442c3ef60e619633b09fa5b1bef5d.jpeg\")
Barrister to Barista cafe manager Vishal Sharma is among locals who support the proposal.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n![\"Go](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/198fc09c19b519541aa12a277bb127c49ea687ef44a77aa5819b3310e2440cc3.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n