MEDIA RELEASE - LABOR’S BIZARRE SCIENCE FUNDING PRIORITIES: CUTTING RESOURCES FROM AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE WHILE SPRAYING AROUND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS TO ENRICH INVESTORS IN AN AMERICAN COMPANY

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

MEDIA RELEASE

24 May 2024

LABOR’S BIZARRE SCIENCE FUNDING PRIORITIES: CUTTING RESOURCES FROM AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE WHILE SPRAYING AROUND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS TO ENRICH INVESTORS IN AN AMERICAN COMPANY

The Albanese Labor Government’s Budget has boosted funding for American investors and the Canberra bureaucracy - at the expense of funding for basic scientific research activity.  

$466.7 million has been allocated to American company PsiQuantum, following a deal cloaked in secrecy and lacking in transparency, with a further $27.7 million allocated for Canberra bureaucrats to oversee the controversial deal.

“Labor’s science funding priorities are bizarre: it is cutting resources from Australian science while spraying around hundreds of millions to enrich investors in an American company,” Shadow Minister for Science Paul Fletcher said.

Labor’s spending on PsiQuantum comes while money and resources for Australian science activity is cut back in this budget:

• Labor has axed funding in the space sector by terminating the $1.2 billion National Space Mission for Earth Observation, which was scheduled to launch four satellites between 2028 and 2033. 
• Labor has cut $19 million of funding from the artificial intelligence initiatives, taking if from $55 million to $36 million over three years from 2024-25.
• At a time when the public service is increasing by 36,000 people, CSIRO is having its staffing cut by 146 people, down to 5,904 in 2024-25.
• CSIRO is also having its funding cut by $14 million in the 2024-25.

Mr Fletcher said the Budget missed the mark, with questions surrounding the secretive PsiQuantum deal still unanswered.

“This Budget does more to enrich PsiQuantum’s American investors, than bolster Australia’s world-renowned quantum sector,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Plenty of information is concealed in this budget - but the information which has been disclosed shows little good news for science.

“Scientists pride themselves on being evidence based, methodical and truth driven – principles which Labor has omitted from this Budget.”

Media contact: William Sparling | 0416 628 276 | [email protected]