Crisafulli Meets JD Vance, Invites Trump to Queensland

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli says he has taken “Queensland to the Capital,” with more to come during his five-day trip to the United States.

Crisafulli recently visited Washington, where he met one-on-one with U.S. Vice President JD Vance to discuss opportunities in data centres and critical minerals.

The premier described Vance as “incredibly gracious.”

“It’s important that we take Queensland to the global stage and that’s what I’m doing here in the states,” he said in a video posted to social media on Sept. 5.

“We’ve got an amazing opportunity to focus on some really key areas.”

Crisafulli said minerals remained a major opportunity for Queensland, as the state has 51 of the critical minerals needed by the United States.

“My vision is to make sure that we can become that trusted partner to supply them,” he said.

“It’s good news for our economy, it’s also good news for global stability—the United States is such a trusted partner of ours, it’s important we do that.”

Discussions were also held around agriculture and the defence industry.

Crisafulli said there had been some “learning” around artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, which he said needed to be “on our terms” as they rolled out across Queensland and Australia.

In recent years, U.S. tech companies have rapidly expanded data centre infrastructure in Australia.

In June 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest $20 billion (USD $14.4 billion) in Australian data centre infrastructure over five years.

The partnership with AWS will also support the delivery of a sovereign Top Secret Cloud for Australia’s defence and intelligence agencies, with the broader investment expected to support thousands of jobs.

In April 2026, Microsoft announced a $25 billion investment package covering Australian digital infrastructure, AI, cybersecurity and skills development, including AI training opportunities for three million Australians.

“Data centres have to come and they have to make sure they’re supplying the kind of power that can help Queenslanders,” Crisafulli said.

“I want to see as that rolls out. There’s an economic opportunity but it should also force prices down on electricity and if we continue to work in that space there’s a big opportunity.

“Anyway, we’ve taken Queensland to the capital—more to come.”

Crisafulli recently successfully argued for data centres in Queensland to be exempt from federal renewables guidelines, citing the state’s unique energy resources.

The premier also met with U.S. officials during the five-day trip, saying a number of agreements had been made.

Crisafulli also visited the Pentagon and attended a reception held by the American Australian Association in New York.

He also suggested to Vance that U.S. President Donald Trump visit Queensland alongside other world leaders if the state hosts a future Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit.

Meanwhile, state Opposition Leader Steven Miles has remained sceptical of Crisafulli’s approach to powering data centres with a mix of power sources.

“Without new energy, AI data centres will drive up power prices,” he said.

“David Crisafulli wants to open the floodgates to power hungry data centres, but doesn’t have a plan to power them.”