The chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory has declared that contrary to previous reports the planned $1 billion data center is not "dead in the water.
John Stanhope, who remains as chief minister in a minority government formed in coalition with the Green Party said that the Tuggeranong data center and gas-fired power station in Canberra was subject to a statutory planning process and that the legislature must stay at arm's length.
Australia's ABC news reported that Stanhope, said: "There's a statutory planning process underway and I put the point during the negotiations [with the Greens] that the Government had absolutely no intention of interrupting or aborting a legal, lawful statutory process."
"We've always said that that process should be allowed to stand or fall on the merits of the application, an application that will be determined by an independent planner through ACTPLA [ACT Planning and Land Authority]."
Mr Stanhope says Labor has not changed its position on the issue despite forming a minority government with the Greens.
"We've agreed that we'll have to agree to disagree," he said.