Iran's $10m bounty on Barron Trump + Should we raid our super?

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (0:08)
Hi, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you, welcome to The Briefing. It's your money, but you can't touch it for decades. Should that change? It is the $4 trillion question that's now splitting Canberra, and the government says it'll decide the next election.

**Mary Delahunty** (0:21)
I think Australians would rightly ask any sort of policy maker to use their imagination a little bit more to fix the structural problems in the nation that is causing the cost of living pressure instead of asking each Australian to rob from their future selves.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (0:39)
That deep dive into superannuation and whether it's time for a rethink is coming up in the second half of this episode. But first, as always, it is time for the headlines with Chris Spyrou on Tuesday, the 25th of August.

**Chris Spyrou** (0:54)
Morning, Sacha. Data centres won't be built near Australian homes, schools or farmland if the Prime Minister can strike a deal with the states and territories this week. Anthony Albanese is taking his proposed approval rules to National Cabinet tomorrow, and he's bracing for a fight with Queensland Premier David Crissafulli, who's already broken away and is charging ahead with his own approach.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (1:15)
Yeah, more on that in a little bit. But speaking of Albanese's plan, it builds on the framework he unveiled last month, which would force new data centers to put more renewable energy back into the grid than they pull out and for them to go easy on water. What's new is the location piece. So the PM wants to keep these massive sites off land that could be used for something more useful like housing, which could see existing proposals being planned scrapped entirely.

**Chris Spyrou** (1:40)
The mandatory rules aren't due until early next year. So tomorrow is really about getting the states to agree on what they'll look like. And that's where Queensland is digging in. Chris Ofuli reckons forcing developers onto renewables will scare off investment and also drive up power bills for Queenslanders. His alternative is to let data centres run on whatever fuel they like, coal, gas or renewables, as long as they clear social impact assessments and strike a deal with the councils first.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (2:09)
Yeah, Dave Chris Ofuli is really becoming the thorn in Albanese side. This is another major national policy, federal policy, that Albanese needs the state's approvals to get on board with. We spoke about gun buybacks yesterday, which we know Queensland isn't on board with. And now here's another one that Chris Ofuli is saying, no, we don't want any part of it as it stands, as you've put it to us. The only thing I'd say on that is, you know, we know that investment in renewable energy is very important for the future of the planet.
And if we say this now, no, don't worry about it. You guys can use whatever fuels you like, whether it's fossil or renewables. If we do that now, in 10, 15, 20 years time, we'll be going, oh, well, we can't force them into that regulation now because they'll up and leave. So I think it's a huge mistake to not force data centers and the big tech giants to use renewables to run them here.

**Chris Spyrou** (2:56)
Yeah, well, we know there was a report that dropped yesterday from the Australian Energy Market Operator that showed data center power use is projected to increase sevenfold over the next decade. So this is a huge part of what we're going to be seeing with our energy transition as well as the future of Australia.
Energy demand will grow from 3% of overall consumption to 13% just for these data centers. And Albanese is promising to share the economic benefits equally across the states and territories and is really talking it up that these rules can be a way that we do this right. We do this now, we make the rules now and then states down the line aren't fighting over who gets a slice of what. If the Queensland government or other governments start creating their own rules or making different carve outs, it's going to make it a more attractive investment destination for data center builders who don't want to comply with, for example, renewable rules. So curious to see what comes out of NACAB tomorrow. We do know they'll also be talking about the gun buyback, which we did deep dive yesterday if you want to hop back and have a listen to that as well.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (3:58)
To Thailand now, where the Australian man accused of murdering a teenage girl says he has done nothing wrong. Simon Peter Carman has been charged with murdering 17 year old Tanshanuk Don Homler at his condo in Pattaya back in June, accused of putting her body inside a suitcase and dumping it near train tracks.