It says the data centre, to be known as A1, will create 150 jobs.
The facility will also include a “Mission Critical Operational Space” and “Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre”.
NEXTDC has been in negotiations with the Adelaide City Council to purchase the land at 121 Pirie Street, the location of the beach volleyball courts on the corner of Pirie and Frome Street.
The council last May voted to sell off the beach volleyball facility in a bid to boost its pandemic-hit coffers, despite an overwhelming majority of respondents to public consultation on the matter opposing the sale.
Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said NEXTDC is “precisely the type of business we want to see based here”.
“Not only will the sale of 211 Pirie Street see a company with a strong global reputation further cement Adelaide’s reputation as an affordable and innovative place to do business, the investment will be responsibly used for the growth of the city,” she said.
“Today’s announcement is also a great example of two levels of government working in partnership and I want to thank and acknowledge the State Government for its commitment to attracting new investment to our city.”
NEXTDC already has 14 data centres located across Australia including four in Sydney.
Labor pledge to make Adelaide Film Festival annual event
The South Australian Labor Party has pledged to invest $2 million in the Adelaide Film Festival to make it an annual event.
The commitment will see the AFF – currently held once every two years – given an extra $500,000 over four years in a bid to raise the festival’s profile and make it a permanent fixture on Adelaide’s events calendar.
The AFF has been held 11 times since 2003 and was an annual event from 2015 to 2018 before shifting back to the biannual format.
Despite the pandemic, the 2020 edition of the festival saw a 23 per cent growth in sales, according to organisers, with 26 world premieres, 32 Australian premieres and more than 200 screenings across the 12-day event.
Labor arts spokesperson Katrine Hildyard said the extra funding would help strengthen film’s place in the Adelaide arts ecosystem.
“This extra funding for the Adelaide Film Festival will enable the event organisers to build on the success of this festival and stage it every year,” she said.
“This investment will boost local filmmaking and support local jobs, and it will enable more South Australians to explore their craft and give South Australians a greater opportunity to engage with the arts and all of the benefits that brings.”
This year’s Adelaide Film Festival is due to be held from October 19 to 30.
Crows forced to cancel trial match due to COVID
The Adelaide Crows have been forced to cancel an internal trial match because too many players are unavailable due to COVID-19 and injury.
The Crows on Wednesday confirmed 16 players are currently unavailable, with an unspecified number of players temporarily ruled out of action through the competition’s health and safety protocols.
The intra-club hit-out was due to be held on Friday but has now been replaced by a standard training session.
“We’ve got 16 players ruled out and that sort of encompasses positive tests, close contacts and normal management injuries of players in preseason,” Crows high-performance manager Darren Burgess told Fiveaa on Wednesday, although he wouldn’t be drawn on the number of players who have tested positive to COVID-19.
Wingman Paul Seedsman, Lachlan Murphy and Elliot Himmelberg are currently out due to injury.
Asked about whether SA Health’s close contact rules were hampering the squad’s preparation for 2022, Burgess said: “It certainly different to what other states have.”
“But that’s what we’re dealing with and that’s okay, we’ll just play the cards we’ve been dealt and continue on,” he said.
The Crows are due to face Brisbane in a practice match on February 25 before an official pre-season fixture against Port Adelaide on March 5.
Adelaide will open the premiership season at home to Fremantle on March 20.
Four doses may be required to be fully vaccinated
Australia’s immunisation regulator cannot rule out four or even five doses of COVID-19 vaccine being required to be considered “up to date”.
Appearing before a Senate estimates committee on Wednesday, Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation chair Nigel Crawford said his organisation would continue to monitor data from countries administering four doses.
Health Minister Greg Hunt announced last week three doses are now required to be considered up to date, while Crawford told the hearing some immunocompromised patients are already recommended four vaccine doses.
Asked by Liberal senator Alex Antic if he could assure Australians they would not be required to get four or even five doses to be considered up to date, Professor Crawford could offer no such guarantee.
“Countries like Israel have already recommended a fourth dose and we need to look at that international data and see the impact, and what the new variant vaccines look like,” he said.
“ATAGI is constantly reviewing the evidence … that advice may change over time. It is a possibility but there’s no current recommendation to that effect.”
Elsewhere at Senate estimates, Australia’s vaccine rollout head Lieutenant-General John Frewen said the Indigenous vaccination gap had reduced by some 12 per cent, with 77.4 per cent of Indigenous Australians double-vaccinated.
Almost 60 per cent of eligible Australians have had three doses, and 48.1 per cent of children aged between five and 11 years old have had their first dose.
In South Australia, booster shots have been administered to 65.3 per cent of the eligible population and 50.3 per cent of those over the age of 16.
Unemployment tipped to further improve in latest jobs figures
Economists expect the unemployment rate could improve when the latest jobs figures are released today, despite the disruptions caused by the Omicron variant to the economy.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will this morning release its labour force report for January.
The unemployment rate dropped to a 13-year low of 4.2 per cent in December.
In South Australia, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped to 3.9 per cent, down 0.7 percentage in November.
Federal Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy told senators on Wednesday he did not expect the Omicron wave to have a large negative impact on employment.
“It is more likely to have a relatively large impact in the number of hours worked across the economy rather than employment,” Dr Kennedy told the Senate economic committee.
Economists’ forecasts centre on the unemployment rate easing to 4.1 per cent in January, although expectations range from 4 per cent to 4.4 per cent.
Similarly, predictions for employment point to a flat or unchanged result after the strong gains seen in the previous two months that followed the end of Delta lockdowns, but again forecasts range from a 60,000 fall to a 59,000 rise.
Adelaide Fringe opening weekend arrives
The 2022 Adelaide Fringe kicks off tonight, marking the start of one of the hallmarks of Adelaide’s festival season.
More than 6000 artists from around the world are descending on South Australia’s capital for the Fringe which will boast more than 1000 shows over 31 nights this year.
Adelaide Fringe director and CEO Heather Croall said more than 50 shows had already sold out.
“There are so many people who have worked incredibly hard to bring this beloved festival to life – from our entire Fringe team to the artists who breathe life into their shows, and all the venues to ensure everyone can enjoy a COVID-safe festival,” Croall said.
“Ahead of opening weekend, the box office is 5 per cent up on the same time as last year, which is showing huge audience enthusiasm and excitement. We’ve got 72 new venues and 618 new shows, theatre, music, art, cabaret, comedy – the list is endless, and it all starts tonight.”
The Fringe’s COVID-management plan with SA Health permits their venues to sell at 75 per cent capacity.
Free public transport from noon Fridays until midnight Sundays will also be available from tomorrow until March 20, the State Government has announced, in a bid to support the festival season.
Sydney beaches closed after fatal shark attack
Multiple beaches in Sydney’s east have been closed for 24 hours after a swimmer was killed by a shark in a chilling attack.
The swimmer died from catastrophic injuries after being targeted by what witnesses said was a four-and-a-half metre great white shark at Little Bay in the city’s east on Wednesday afternoon.
Human remains were later found in the water.
Randwick Council has shut a number of beaches including Little Bay, Malabar, Maroubra, Coogee, Clovelly and La Perouse for 24 hours.
“Council Lifeguards will patrol beaches over the next 24 hours looking for any further sightings of sharks,” Mayor Dylan Parker tweeted.
“To lose someone on our coastline like this is chilling to the core,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Thursday.
“The coast is our backyard.
“Little Bay is normally a calm, quiet, family friendly beach.”
NSW Ambulance inspector Lucky Phrachnanh said the swimmer “suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the attack and there was nothing paramedics could do when we arrived on scene”.
It is the first fatal shark attack in Sydney waters since 1963.
A witness told Nine News he saw a four-and-a-half metre great white shark attack the swimmer.
Kris Linto said the shark “attacked him vertically”.
“We heard a yell … it looked like a car had landed in the water,” he said.
The unnamed victim is believe to be a local man who swam regularly in the area.
NSW Police and the Department of Primary Industry are investigating the circumstances surrounding the swimmer’s death.
US, NATO reject Russian drawdown claims
The United States and NATO said Russia is still building up troops around Ukraine despite Moscow’s insistence it was pulling back, questioning President Vladimir Putin’s stated desire to negotiate a solution to the crisis.
In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyber-attack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind the country had seen. It pointed a finger at Russia, which denied involvement.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said US officials were as yet unable to say who was responsible for the cyber attack. She also said the door remained open for diplomacy with Russia but reiterated concerns that a Russian attack could be preceded by a ‘false flag’ operation and misinformation.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises in southern and western military districts near Ukraine.
It published video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said key Russian units were moving towards the border, not away.
“There’s what Russia says. And then there’s what Russia does. And we haven’t seen any pullback of its forces,” Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC.
“We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border.”
A senior Western intelligence official said the risk of Russian aggression against Ukraine would remain high for the rest of February and Russia could still attack Ukraine “with essentially no, or little-to-no,xjmtzyw warning”.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said moving troops and tanks back and forth did not amount to proof of a pullout.
