Cross-party Mannum rally opposes 1,200MW Tungkillo data centre

On Saturday 31 October 2026, residents held a public rally at Mannum against Quantum DC’s proposed 1,200 megawatt data centre at Tungkillo, two days after a protest meeting in Tungkillo itself, according to ABC News. Local organiser Magdalene Lippett told the Mannum crowd that residents did not want the data centre and would fight it using every legal means available.

Why it matters

The rally drew the Liberal Party, the Greens and One Nation onto the same platform, an unusual alliance for a single South Australian planning fight. Liberal upper house leader Nicola Centofanti said the party is not opposed to data centres in principle but argued the Tungkillo community has consistently opposed this site. Greens leader Robert Simms called for a moratorium on new data centres and for the sector to be folded into the state’s royal commission. One Nation’s Carlos Quaremba pointed to the parties’ recent joint support for a Greens motion against gas fracking in the state’s south east as a template for cross-party cooperation on data centres. Planning Minister Nick Champion did not attend, and no government members were at the rally. He has said any application would face a rigorous planning process, including meeting power and water requirements, with the State Commission Assessment Panel or the minister himself a possible assessor once one is lodged.

No development application has been lodged for the Tungkillo project, and Quantum DC says it will not submit one until consultation finishes. That makes the rally itself, not a filing, the dated event pushing this fight into the open: a formal proposal still does not exist, and organised opposition to it does.

The numbers

Quantum DC’s proposal covers 120 hectares on Collins Road, Tungkillo, about 41 kilometres east of the Adelaide CBD near Mount Torrens. The company has proposed 1,200 megawatts of capacity, with a first construction stage targeted for 2028. Chief executive Alby Tomassi says about 80% of the site’s electricity would come from two on-site substations tied to ElectraNet transmission lines, backed by solar and wind supply contracts, with an on-site gas-fired plant providing firming capacity. Water would come from captured and recycled rainwater rather than the River Murray or groundwater, according to Tomassi; those figures are the company’s own claims, not yet tested through a formal assessment.

Two community consultation sessions originally due the same week as the rally were postponed on safety concerns and have been rescheduled for 20 and 21 November 2026. Quantum DC officials did not attend the Mannum rally. Tomassi said the company respects the community’s views and is engaging before lodging anything formally, adding that feedback from the sessions will help shape the proposal it eventually files.

What’s next

The rescheduled sessions on 20 and 21 November are the next formal point of contact between Quantum DC and the community before any application reaches the state. Lippett said at the rally there has to be a point where people slow down and question what trade-offs are being given up. No lodgement date has been reported, and it is not yet confirmed whether the State Commission Assessment Panel or the minister would assess the application once filed. Other South Australian planning moves, including the Inner West code amendment now out for consultation, are tracked on our Adelaide hub. Watch for whether Quantum DC changes its site, water or power claims ahead of lodging, and whether the Liberal, Greens and One Nation alignment holds once there is a formal application to respond to.