Albanese defends $1b start-up bet as Queensland support wavers

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s $470 million quantum computing bet as the project hangs in the balance following Queensland’s decision to review a deal it struck to fund a start-up alongside the federal government.

In April, the federal and Queensland Labor governments both pledged $470 million in equity, loans and grants to US-based firm PsiQuantum, which is trying to build a new form of computer capable of solving previously impenetrable problems.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the tie-up in April alongside then-premier Steven Miles.Credit: Jamila Toderas

But in a move that will trigger hostilities with the Albanese government, the newly elected Liberal National government led by Premier David Crisafulli announced on Monday it would review its commitment to fund PsiQuantum.

Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki has previously claimed the tie-up, which the former state Labor government said would create 400 jobs by locating the computer in Brisbane, was “dripping with Labor lobbyists” and said he had asked his officials to look into the funding agreement.

“We know that PsiQuantum had the inside running with the current federal and former state government. Throughout the year we have raised our concerns about the complete secrecy of the tender process and the way it sidelined expert advisers. We will examine the details of this deal in full,” he told The Australian.

Albanese said his government’s vision was to position Australia at the forefront of the technology. “There is a first mover advantage in areas such as this and Australia cannot afford to sit back and watch other countries get ahead,” he said on Tuesday.

“We went through an extraordinary amount of diligence before this announcement”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton backed the LNP move and cast the former Queensland Labor government as reckless.

“If taxpayers’ money is being wasted, I am against it,” he said, noting concerns about Labor-aligned lobbyists advocating for the project to get off the ground.

The Australian National Audit Office, which scrutinises government spending, said in August it was considering an examination of the agreement, after opposition science spokesman Paul Fletcher wrote to the watchdog seeking a review.

Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic has repeatedly said the opposition’s criticisms of the deal are unsubstantiated.

He said the PsiQuantum deal was a unique opportunity to hook Australia into a technology that could reshape the economy and has emphasised that Australia missed out on bringing chipmaker Intel to Australia in the 1990s, suggesting the quantum start-up presented similar value.

Husic’s office has defended the deal as having high probity standards. Taxpayers’ contributions to PsiQuantum are largely dependent on it hitting progress milestones on its technology.

This masthead reported last week that the opposition was calling for a parliamentary inquiry after it emerged a key Husic adviser on the deal was a friend and former housemate of an executive at a venture capital fund with a stake in PsiQuantum.

Fletcher has previously claimed Husic was “bedazzled” by PsiQuantum, visiting its US headquarters twice. The start-up also hired a Labor-aligned lobbying firm to spruik the company.

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