From Shorts Media on Rick Morton, This is seven am. In high security labs from Silicon Valley to Mainland China, researchers are racing to be the first to bring about what has been dubbed Q Day. On that day, all encryption and security could be laid bare, and the Internet could essentially break the deepest plans of militaries around the world. All of their medical records and private encrypted conversations could
be exposed. And that's because Q Day is the day the most powerful machine ever imagined comes online, the first fault free quantum computer. No one knows whether it's months or decades away. Today, special correspondent for the Saturday Paper, Jason Kotsukas on why Australia wants to join the race and why one company got the billion dollar deal to
do it. That's coming up the break. Jason Einstein thought some of the implications of quantum physics were downright spooky when he first heard about them, and it seems fitting that the global race to build a quantum computer on these theories is just as strange and compelling. What's the promise of the technology.
It's a great question, Rick, I must say, I've always been interested in the idea of a quantum computer because you hear so much promise.
The quantum computer pushes the limits of knowledge, new science, new engineering, all leading to this processor that computes with the atomic forces that created the universe.
You know, these are incredibly fast machines that you know. What we're told is that such a device, you know, like this could help address some of the world's biggest problems, you know, climate change, food security.
If we think about what quantum computing is going to be capable of, that's the kind of stuff we're thinking about.
Right, Yeah, you see, quantum computers are the ultimate computers because they're competing on atoms. If there are aliens in out of space, and I think there are, it means that they also have perfected quantum computers.
And then perhaps on a more negative side, these computers are so powerful that they could in a sense, you know, break the Internet, crack all of the cryptography that we use every day to secure our data. Fundamentally, this is a world changing race to develop the world's first quantum computer.
We're looking at a race a race between China between IBM, Google, Microsoft, Honeywell.
President Jinping has said research and development in quantum science is an urgent matter of national concern and the Tree has invested heavily in this technology, spending billions in recent years.
You know, it's a race between the United States and China. You know, will the US or China get there first. Suddenly it seems like Australia is in this race as well.
This is a quantum leap into the next generation of technology right here in Queensland.
For Queensland.
This is our moonshot for Queensland, this is our Project Apollo. The go leading this push is Ed Husick. He's the Minister for Industry and Science. He's also one of the government's best plane speaking communicators.
Current classic computing it can do a lot, and I know there will be a lot of you that think that AI and computers at the moment can achieve a lot, but they're going to hit a ceiling and quantum computing will break through that, coming up with new ways to find new drugs to help us in the transition to net zero.
And Ed Huzick says that by betting a billion dollars on this psy quantum company, which is based in California, that Australia is suddenly at the head of this race.
Because that is what is at stake here. The government has announced that this Californian based company, psy Quantum, is going to produce the world's first useful useful quantum computer right here in Brisbane, you know, just up the road from where I am. Now, what have they announced exactly and why have they gone overseas?
So what they've announced is that the Australian Government and the Queensland government will invest almost a billion dollars. It's going to be half from the Commonwealth and half from the Queensland Government, and that money is going to be a mixture of loans and equity. So Australian taxpayers will actually have a stake in this company. In twenty twenty one, it was valued at about five and a half billion
dollars Australian. So if they manage to build the world's first useful quantum computer in Brisbane and it can do all the things that you know we hear about, then I think the value of that stake that Australian taxpayer's own wills will certainly increase in value.
You've got people like Jeremo O'Brien and Terry Rudolph who founded PSI Quantum in twenty fifteen. They left our shores because, as is often the case, we've got Australians with great ideas that don't get the backing, and it's other countries that recognize their value before us.
You know, one of the things that Jeremy O'Brien has said is the impact of quantum computing is going to be more profound than any technology to date. And I think that's a really good quote. It kind of says it all. It's something that's going to be more powerful, have more impact than artificial intelligence.
I believe the term impossible will soon be banished from our field. We can see the path forward, a path towards cleaner skies and seas and life saving drugs developed faster than ever before. This quantum age is fast approaching and it will be molded by Australian hands.
I guess the other thing we know is though that a lot of venture capital bets don't pay off, and if Psyquantum can't do what they say they can do, then I think that's going to have repercussions for this labor government and also for ed Husick, because they're promising to build it by twenty twenty seven. So if Anthony Albinezi wins the election next year, they'll still be in government in twenty twenty seven and taxpayers are going to start demanding results.
There's a little bit more to this story, I think, which is precisely how Psyquantum came to be awarded the contract. Can you walk me through I guess the timeline of what happened and what decisions were made before Psychoontum was even granted this opportunity.
You know, it's my understanding that Ed Musick began having very informal discussions with people connected to psy Quantum in the second half of twenty twenty two, and he moved
pretty quickly. Ed Musick had a few meetings with, you know, different people who were connected to Piquantum, and it didn't take much longer for him to say, Okay, why don't I go over to California and have a look at this company, meeting the people at si Quantum face to face, having a tour of the headquarters, and as soon as he got back he said to his department, let's get to work on this. And that's exactly what happened. But I think one Siquontum knew that they had ed music
on the hook. They went and engaged some pretty powerful lobbyists who are quite close to the Labor Party, you know, people like Richard Miles's former chief of staff and Jared Richardson, who ran Labors communications team for the twenty nineteen election. And then they also commissioned an economic impact report from Mandala. This is another consultancy that's close to the Labor Party. Amidst seeing the managing partner at Mandala, he was Bill
Shorton's deputy chief of Policy. He was a senior economic advisor to Julie Gillard and Rudd. So psyde Quantum, they got some pretty influential lobbyists who've certainly got the year of some very powerful people in the government.
After break. What the reaction has been in Canberra to the government putting so many eggs in one Quantum basket. So, Jason, you've been looking at how Psy Quantum won this big deal and around the same time in some pretty influential lobbis. Did you find anything else out as you looked a little bit deeper into it?
So Psy Quantum first approached the Australian government through Ostrade I think as early as twenty nineteen, you know, trying to attract the interest of the you know, the then Morrison government to say this is a company that's worth investing in. The Morrison government did take a look at it. They said no the first time. Psy Quantum came back a number of times, and then in twenty twenty one
when the Australian venture capital firm Blackbird got involved. I think psy Quantum, you know, came back to the government again. In twenty twenty two when Anthony Albiniti became Prime Minister. I think psy Quantum thought, well, new government, new opportunity to try to get someone interested in this idea. When it comes to Blackbird, the Australian venture capital firm, Ed Husick appointed to the National Quantum Advisory Committee a senior
associate at Blackbird. Her name is Claire Birch. And then in December last year he appointed another Blackbird executive, the head of Impact and also the operating principal at Blackbird. Her name is Kate Glazebrook, and Minister Husick appointed her to the seven member Industry, Innovation and Science Australia Board, which advises the government on science, innovation and research matters and is responsible for the promotion of investment in industry.
You know, Ed Husick has been at pains to emphasize that, in his view, both of these committees very much at arms length from the decision to invest in Side Quantum. One thing we've been very careful to emphasize in this story is we're not saying that there is a conflict of interest in some of these relationships. But I think often in politics it's the perception of a conflict of
interest that becomes the issue. More transparency was something that Anthony I be easy promised in opposition, and I think there are certainly questions to be asked here and I think, you know, Australian taxpayers need to be satisfied that this process was fair, open and transparent as possible.
Jason, we've been talking about this massive ambition of building the first useful quantum computer. The deal has been made with psy Quantum. There's been a little bit of kind of scuttle about that deal. What's the reaction been in camera to the announcement.
I think a lot of people were staggered by the size of the investment in this company. You know, this is almost unprecedented that an Australian government, in association with the Queensland government would invest so much taxpayer funds into the one company. So when it was announced, the immediate reaction from people like Paul Fletcher, the Opposition's spokesman for Science, he was absolutely flabbigasted.
This process has been clouded in secrecy. There was there was no public, transparent expression of interest process to call for applications. A small number of companies, as I understand it, were invited to participate, but they were required to sign non disclosure agreements and he.
Wasn't the only one. Well, we haven't seen it publicly because a lot of the quantum computing people here in Australia are dependent on federal government funding. But their reaction, well, publicly people have been saying this is a good idea
and they've backed it. Privately, there's a lot of anger and concern that the federal government is putting so much money into one saying, gee, I thought money was scarce and there wasn't any kind of money for us, but suddenly the government's gone and given a billion dollars to one company, and they are saying, well, why not spread this money around and give us all a more equal
chance of developing quantum computing in Australia. So I think people were really shocked and surprised at the size of the investment.
And of course I can't help but notice the symmetry between psy Quantum's attempts at trying every possible available route to get government interested in making the investment and the technology itself, which is allowing a quantum computer to try every conceivable calculation in as few steps as possible. Did we make the right decision in going with psy Quantum given this race is so important.
Well, this might be a case like Blue Poles. You know, the painting that off Whitlam brought to much public outcry for a million dollars in the nineteen seventies. The value of Bluepoles today has been a great return on that investment, despite the controversy at the time. We might say the same thing happened with psy Quantum, that this big stake that we've taken in si Quantum. Yes, there's a lot
of outcry. Now in twenty years we might be saying this is one of the best investments the Australian government's ever made. But it's impossible to know that now. And there's also a big chance that this company might not be able to do what it says it can.
And in the meantime, it's CUBID set one thousand paces. That's right, Jason, Thank you so much for taking the time to steak with me today.
Rick, It's been a great pleasure to speak with you.
Also in the news today, Australia has a new governor general. Lawyer, businesswoman and former AFL commissioner Sam Mostyn was sworn in yesterday. She's only the second woman to hold the position. And President Joe Biden met with his family at Camp David yesterday to discuss the prospect of dropping out of the presidential race. Who has been reported the family has merged
with a resounding view of continuing in the campaign. The New York Times has reported the most adamant voice in the room was his son Hunter Biden, who argued voters needed to meet the Joe Biden that he knows. Hunter was convicted of felony weapons charges last month.