Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta—I will give him credit: a very smart man—did not mention PsiQuantum once, did not seek to defend the Minister for Industry and Science once, did not seek to defend the process once. He spent his five minutes talking about the opposition. Let's be clear: he's been around this place for a long time. He's a very smart man. He knew exactly what he was doing, because he knows this process is not defendable—he knows this process cannot be defended. So I understand the member for Parramatta—as he walks out—didn't want to defend it.

But it wasn't even just the member for Parramatta who didn't want to defend it. The minister for industry had 10 minutes to answer the questions that the member for Bradfield put to him, and he didn't. He spent 10 minutes talking about the opposition. As to what he did say, he said one thing repeatedly, multiple times: 'This went through a process.' Well, the minister is correct. And that's not the charge. The charge is not that it went through a process. The facts are that the process was set up to make sure PsiQuantum won this bid. Late last year, I received a phone call from someone in the quantum industry who was upset for a couple of reasons. They had been asked to be part of this EOI and, as soon as they read it, they knew the fix was in. So in November last year in the Federation Chamber, I raised concerns—their concerns; the industry's concerns—that the fix was in. And, lo and behold, in April 2024, it came to fruition that PsiQuantum won the contract. So we know it went through a process, Minister, but we know it doesn't stack up.

I also know, from speaking to those in the industry, about the email that the PsiQuantum ownership sent to venture capitalists in April last year. It talked about the agreement that they had with the federal government, when they were seeking more funding to bridge the gap as they ran out of capital until the federal government money came in. The industry is well aware of this email. I've spoken about this before. The minister has never given an answer about this email, because, as I said, this process does not stack up.

He also talked about the Chief Scientist. Let's quote the Chief Scientist, and in fairness to him I'll quote the first thing—

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