Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I can't help but feel that the debate today is a debate on science and whether the government accepts science or not. Sometimes people talk about science as though it's a religion. It's not a religion; it's about facts, it's about methodology and it's about doing things that are evidence based Guess what? The future is coming. And the future is quantum computing.

What I hear from the other side is that they want to be stuck in the dial-up internet era, or to be using the brick Nokia phone, which had predictive text. The truth is, these were technologies that were groundbreaking at one stage but aren't used today. Quantum computing has amazing benefits for society. We are at the precipice of amazing breakthroughs. I'm also really grateful because in Swan I have a supercomputer that is using quantum, which is very exciting.

With this decision, the Albanese government, along with the Queensland government, committed to investing $470 million in equity and loans to build a fault-tolerant computer with PsiQuantum. This is not just a tech upgrade. This is about making computing transformational. It is the future. It is the next big thing in computing. And it is exciting that Australia can be at the forefront of this.

We can make it happen, but we need a government that will make this a priority, and that is exactly what this government is doing. This isn't just about making things faster. It's about solving problems that classical computers can't even touch. We're talking about breakthroughs in medicines. We're talking about making strides in artificial intelligence and even tackling climate change—which reminds me: we are a government that accepts science; we accept the science of climate change. The former member was talking about an obsession with nuclear, but, I don't know, $600 billion sounds like a pretty big obsession to me! Using the words of the member for Reid, it is a nuclear fantasy.

That's not the kind of fantasies that I have. I have dreams of a net zero emissions world where we have amazing medicines and wellbeing for all of our society. And Australia is in it to win it. This deal was a massive milestone, and now the real work starts. Soon we will see why it's so important to invest in quantum technology. It's about securing our future both economically and from a national security standpoint. This investment will help Australian industries and researchers get the tools they need for the coming decades.

We didn't jump into this blindly. We did the homework. Our public servants tested the market. They looked at more than 20 companies to find out what could be delivered. It was a rigorous process. And this wasn't just about building a computer—although building computers is fun. This was about seeing how many jobs it would create and what benefits it would bring to the Australian economy. And guess what? PsiQuantum came out on top.

This is a huge opportunity, and it is a chance to lock Australia into the technology frontier and to reshape industries around the world. We've missed out before. Remember, we could have had Intel in the 1990s. We're not missing out this time. This project isn't just about keeping tech. It's about keeping Australian talent—no more brain drain. We want the best and the brightest. We don't want them going overseas to commercialise ideas; we want them to be doing it here. This is a part of the reason that this is part of a suite of policies, such as building a future made in Australia. This project has a chance to build an incredible future for Australia.

Some people might have doubts. That's fine. Reviews are welcome. Unlike the opposition, we're doing everything out in the open. We're transparent. We're not operating in secret, like the former government did. Remember when the former member for Cook appointed himself to secret ministries? That's not how we do things. This process went through rigorous due diligence. The future for Australia is exciting. Quantum computing— (Time expired)

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