昆士兰州绿色数据中心公司Viridis在2024年10月向自由民族党（LNP）捐赠2万澳元用于"企业赞助"后，随即开展一系列政府游说活动[1]。捐赠后两天内，该公司聘请游说代表Graham Staerk[1]，3月份进一步聘请前总理罗伯·博比奇（1996-1998年任职）充当政府中介[1]。
博比奇随后与昆州政府多名官员进行了系列会议。他与客户服务和开放数据部长Steve Minnikin的部门和部长级工作人员举行了会面[1]。6月初进行的第二次会议被列为"关于地区数据中心提案的简报"及"从与部长办公室初步讨论的后续会议"[1]。一周后的第三次会议涉及战略政策执行主任Jay Sindorff、副主任兼现任代理主任Shaun Ferris和Rebecca Merretz[1]。
对此，昆州政府相关部门回应称"没有Viridis提案在考虑之中"，并称开发申请属委员会事务[1]。与此同时，州总理David Crisafulli上月向LNP党员宣传了政府的数据中心投资推介[1]，其5月份日程显示曾与澳大利亚数据中心公司进行了三次会议[1]。
Queensland-based green data centre company Viridis donated $20,000 to the Liberal National Party (LNP) in October 2024 for "corporate sponsorship" purposes, and shortly thereafter engaged in a coordinated effort to access government decision-makers [1]. Within two days of the donation, Viridis hired lobbying representative Graham Staerk, followed by the recruitment of former premier Rob Borbidge in March to serve as a government intermediary [1].
Borbidge, who served as premier from 1996 to 1998, subsequently attended multiple meetings with staff from the Department of Customer Service and the office of Minister Steve Minnikin to discuss the company's regional data centre proposal [1]. A second meeting took place in early June, described in government records as a "briefing on regional data centre proposal" and a "follow-up meeting from preliminary discussions with the minister's office" [1]. One week later, a third meeting involved strategic policy executive Jay Sindorff, deputy director Shaun Ferris, and Rebecca Merretz [1].
Premier David Crisafulli promoted government data centre investment initiatives to LNP members last month [1]. The department subsequently stated that "there is no Viridis proposal under consideration," characterizing development applications as a committee matter [1]. In May, Crisafulli's schedule showed three separate meetings with Australian Data Centres, a separate entity [1].