MEDIA RELEASE - ED HUSIC MISSES SENATE OPD DEADLINE…AGAIN

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday, 20 December 2024

ED HUSIC MISSES SENATE OPD DEADLINE…AGAIN

Minister for Science Ed Husic has again failed to comply with a Senate Order for the Production of Documents (OPD) regarding Labor’s controversial PsiQuantum deal, continuing a pattern of poor transparency and scrutiny around this almost $1 billion investment. 

The documents were due at midday today. The information requested included the unsolicited proposal PsiQuantum provided to the Government in November 2022; the non-disclosure agreement between the Australian Government and PsiQuantum signed in March 2023, and the Deloitte analysis which informed the investment. 

Shadow Minister for Science Paul Fletcher said Minister Husic’s refusal to comply with this important request is yet another example of the Minister’s grim determination to conceal from taxpayers information they ought to be able to see. 

“Failing to comply with an OPD deadline is very serious and taxpayers deserve to know why this has happened,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Evidence unearthed during Senate Estimates and through freedom of information requests reveals this deal to be a reverse engineered sham designed to benefit one American company.

“Ed Husic says he welcomes more scrutiny, but his actions suggest otherwise. Australians deserve better.”