Albanese defends PsiQuantum investment as Queensland considers pulling out of deal

Lawyers will be called in by Queensland’s new Liberal National Party government to give advice about whether the state can tear up a $470m agreement to build a super computer in Brisbane.

Premier David Crisafulli addresses the press on Tuesday. Picture: Lachie Millard

Anthony Albanese says Australia cannot afford to fall behind in the global race to build the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computer after revelations that Queensland’s new Liberal National Party government was considering tearing up a $470m agreement with US-based tech firm PsiQuantum.

Labor insiders are also warning that the Queensland government could open itself to expensive legal action if it decides to revoke the ­financial contribution promised to the Palo Alto-headquartered firm by former premier Steven Miles.

PsiQuantum was awarded $1bn in taxpayer-backed grants, loans and equity in April by the Labor-led Queensland and federal governments to build the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer near the Brisbane airport.

But the newly elected Crisafulli government is sceptical of the Labor-hatched deal and has refused to guarantee Queensland’s $470m financial stake in the project will continue.

The Australian on Monday night revealed Treasurer David Janetzki would be briefed by department officials this week about the state of contractual arrangements ­before making a final funding decision.

Mr Crisafulli would not be drawn on Tuesday on whether he wanted to pull out of the deal, or whether there was merit in governments investing in quantum computing. “The Treasurer is getting a brief and I think it would be premature for me to even speculate on that,” he said.

“So before the election, during the course of estimates as well as publicly, we asked questions about how the deal was struck, the relationship that was had to get that and we’ll ask the same questions after (the election). Let’s have a look at the deal and my commitment to all of you is that you will see in full transparency about that deal, about that arrangement.”

Asked if the state had already sought legal advice about pulling the state’s investment, Mr Crisafulli said: “No, the Treasurer is just getting the briefing now.”

Defending the deal in Tasmania on Tuesday, Mr Albanese said PsiQuantum’s pro­posed super computer was about “positioning Australia for the future”.

“There’s first-mover advantage in areas such as this and Australia can’t afford to sit back and watch other countries get ahead of us in an area where we have this enormous opportunity,” the Prime Minister said.

“We went through an extraordinary amount of diligence before we made this announcement and it is a good announcement that sets up Australia, but Queensland in particular, to have an enormous advantage going forward.”

PsiQuantum, which has Australian-born co-founders, secured funding after hiring Labor-aligned lobbyists and consultancy firms and following a secretive expression of interest process that industry sources have suggested was ­designed to favour PsiQuantum.

Federal Coalition science spokesman Paul Fletcher said a parliamentary inquiry was needed to probe aspects of the deal.