'Not a smart move': Ed Husic warns Dutton's PsiQuantum pullout would backfire
Peter Dutton has threatened to scrap the federal government’s $470m PsiQuantum investment, while Queensland reviews its own stake in the startup.
Industry Minister Ed Husic says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s threats to withdraw from the government’s investment in PsiQuantum would be difficult to execute and would signal Australia as an “unreliable partner".
Speaking to Capital Brief on the sidelines of Adelaide’s Southstart tech conference, Husic said any attempt by a Coalition government to walk back the deal would likely backfire.
"It would be very hard for them to do," he said of the prospect of withdrawing without legal consequence. "But importantly, it would signal that Australian government under Peter Dutton would be an unreliable partner in honouring contracts, and I don't think that's a smart move."
The Labor-led federal and Queensland governments last year invested a combined $940 million in the Californian startup, which aims to build the world’s first commercially useful quantum computer in Brisbane by the end of 2027. Such a machine could enable breakthroughs in medicine, engineering and green technology.
