TRANSCRIPT - Sky News Sharri with Sharri Markson

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

TRANSCRIPT

SKY NEWS SHARRI

7 August 2024

Sharri Markson: Now there have been questions raised over the Albanese government's captain's pick when selecting PsiQuantum for their $1 billion investment. Sarah Ison reported that the US tech company PsiQuantum signed a non-disclosure agreement with the government as part of secret discussions to build a $1 billion quantum computer nearly five months before expressions of interest were open to other players, new documents reveal. 

This is just extraordinary, and I'm joined now by the Shadow Minister for Science, Paul Fletcher, who has been closely examining this issue. So, Paul, I mean, that report's quite amazing.

The Australian says that this has fueled speculation that the deal was underway long before the government then approached other companies about their interest in this investment. Are you concerned that proper process wasn't followed here?

Paul Fletcher: I am very concerned that proper process wasn't followed and that the expression of interest process you've just referred to, which kicked off in August 2023, in which a number of Australian companies were invited to participate, was essentially a reverse engineered sham to cover up for the fact that the government, and particularly minister Ed Husic, had already made the decision.

What we know is that PsiQuantum approached the government in late 2022. We know that Minister Husic met with them at least twice, including once in Silicon Valley in January 2023. We know that work was kicked off within his department, all kinds of briefing material was provided. And we also know that this expression of interest process was then conducted later in the year, but as part of that expression of interest process, the companies that were invited to participate, there was one email only inviting them to participate. They were told they could not have engagement with government officials, bear in mind that PsiQuantam had had eight months of talking to government officials up to and including the Minister.

So it's a very, very unfair process, and those who participated in it said that it looked like it had been written so that only PsiQuantum's technology could be found to meet the requirements.

Sharri Markson: I mean, there are questions anyway over why taxpayer funds are going into a company that's already backed by a massive VC firm. I mean, one VCA firms get it wrong all the time. But also, if the company was so successful, then why does it need government funding? Wouldn't it be able to attract capital through investment and private investors anyway?

Paul Fletcher: Well, I think there are very real questions about what the government's objectives are here in putting almost a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money between the Commonwealth government and the Queensland government into this company, which as it happens, is an American company incorporated in the US, based in Silicon Valley.

But what we also know, because it was announced about three or four weeks ago, is that as well as the almost $1 billion Australian that is being provided to PsiQuantum, they're also getting 500 million US from the government of the State of Illinois in a deal that was announced just recently.

And under that deal, PsiQuantum will be building a computer in Chicago. So we're told they're going to build a computer in Brisbane, which apparently is going to be the world's first fault tolerant, error corrected quantum computer, but now we're told they're also going to be building one in Chicago. So the more we learn about this, the stranger it looks.

Sharri Markson: Do you think there needs to be an inquiry into this process?

Paul Fletcher: Well, I've written to the Auditor General, to the Australian National Audit Office. I've laid out the facts as we know them, including the timeline and when the government first started talking to PsiQuantum, and the fact that Australian companies were not given a look in. And indeed, Australian companies were being told there is no more money for quantum, from the Albanese government.

Then all of a sudden, out of the blue came this announcement in April of this year of almost a billion dollars going into PsiQuantum. So I think there's a lot of questions to ask. I've written to the Auditor General and asked that there be an investigation. Under the Act, the Auditor General has the power to carry out these investigations, and I think that would be an appropriate step so that taxpayers could find out what's really been going on here.

Sharri Markson: Yeah, and I think we need the correspondence between Ed Husic and his office and PsiQuantum as well, from when they started meeting and corresponding in late 2022.

Paul Fletcher: We've been pressing for all of that through Freedom of Information. We've got some things, we've got some things through (Senate) Estimates, the government's resisting at every turn, but we'll keep digging.

Sharri Markson: Yeah, indeed. Paul Fletcher, thank you very much for joining us.