Anthony Albanese has reaffirmed his support for Australia’s $1 billion bet on PsiQuantum and talked up the “enormous advantage” it will give Queensland after the state’s new government said it would review the deal.
Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki on Monday confirmed the state government’s plan to review the deal with the Californian startup, which has been the subject of intense criticism since it was announced in April.
It follows a pledge ahead of the election last month to review the deal as part of an audit of all spending decisions by former premiers Anastasia Palaszczuk and Steven Miles over the last decade.
Mr Janetzki will reportedly call on officials from Treasury this week for a briefing on the deal, before deciding whether to axe Queensland’s $470 million allocation in equity and loans for PsiQuantum.
Mr Janetzki is expected to seek clarity on the due diligence undertaken by the previous government, a topic discussed at estimates earlier this year, as well as the state of contractual arrangements.
The state’s investment comprises a US$125 million convertible note, a conditional A$200 million construction and term debt facility, and a conditional A$75 million economic development and credit support facility.
“We know that PsiQuantum had the inside running with the current federal and former state government,” the new Queensland Treasurer told the Australian on Monday.
“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.”
Responding to the comments on Tuesday, Mr Albanese sought to hose down speculation, saying the bones of the deal were solid and the subject of an extensive due diligence process.
“This is about position Australia for the future. There’s a 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,” he said.
“We went through an extraordinary amount of diligence before we made this announcement and it’s a good announcement that sets up Australia, but Queensland in particular, to have an enormous advantage going forward.”
As part of the investment, PsiQuantum will stage its attempts to build the world’s first fault-tolerant, error-corrected corrected quantum computer near Brisbane Airport.
The company plans to deliver its first commercial quantum computer in less than six years, and will create more than 400 highly skilled local jobs in the process, more than doubling its 280 existing staff.
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