ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says the Government will not use its call-in powers to stop the controversial Tuggeranong data centre and power station from being built.
But the Liberals and the Greens continue to insist the $1billion project should be moved even if it is approved by the ACT Planning and Land Authority.
Both major parties have criticised the Greens' position on the data centre. Mr Stanhope accused them of hypocrisy, while the Liberals said the Greens failed to act decisively to stop the project.
A consortium including energy supplier ActewAGL want to build a data centre and power station at Mugga Lane in Tuggeranong, but residents in nearby Macarthur say the project will affect their health.
The planning minister can use discretionary call-in powers to approve or reject the project before a decision is made by ACTPLA, but Mr Stanhope ruled out the move yesterday, saying nothing could be done to stop the project prematurely.
He said the Opposition and cross bench had fought for a full environmental assessment of the proposed project, but were still looking to scupper it.
''They screamed loud and long for an EIS [environment impact statement] so that the matter could be appropriately tested by ACTPLA,'' Mr Stanhope said.
''The Government agreed to an EIS, an EIS is being conducted and we now have people saying it doesn't matter what the EIS shows.''
He said the Greens and Labor had decided to differ on the issue, despite signing an agreement to form minority government late last week. The agreement includes a provision for the Government to urgently identify sites for data centres in the ACT.
Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan said even if the environmental impact statement gave the site a clean bill of health, there were still issues over the site.
''It is in a wildlife corridor, so that sort of development would actually encroach on the wildlife corridor,'' she said.
''And also I think there could be an argument that the development is encroaching on a residential area because it's in close proximity to houses. I think we need to look at those issues before making a decision.'' She said the Greens were trying to find alternative sites for the developer to relocate the project.
Liberal leader Zed Seselja said the Greens should have included the project in their agreement to form government with Labor.
''When the Greens made their deal with the Labor party, the deal should have been contingent on this issue being sorted,'' he said.
''Ten members of the Assembly went to the electorate promising they wouldn't support it on this site. We've honoured that, the Greens should be honouring that, but I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.''
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