Government's billion dollar gamble on Quantum computing

Sabra Lane: Good morning. Welcome to AM. It's Tuesday, the 30th of April. I'm Sabra Lane coming to you from Nipaluna, Hobart. Tomorrow's National Cabinet meeting about violence against women will have stark new evidence before it showing a 28% increase in women being murdered by a partner or former partner in recent years. That information comes from the Federal Government's Institute of Criminology. But the trend had been going down. There was a slight decline during COVID and the incidence now is much lower than what it was during the 1980s. With more, here's Annie Guest.

Annie Guest: When women and children are fleeing domestic violence, some find refuge or safe housing through women's community shelters in New South Wales. The CEO, Annabel Daniel, is seeing a worrying trend.

Annabel Daniel: Well, what we're seeing reported from domestic and family violence survivors is certainly an intensity in the amount of domestic abuse and coercive control that they're experiencing. And it really is that marker of control that exists in the relationship that points towards a potential domestic homicide.

Annie Guest: She fears things are moving in the wrong direction.

Annabel Daniel: I think in Australia in 2024, it definitely seems like it's getting worse.

Annie Guest: And a report out today from the Australian Institute of Criminology suggests things have been getting worse, in the short term at least. Samantha Bricknell is one of the co-authors.

Samantha Bricknell: So what we found in 22-23, we saw a 28% increase in intimate partner homicide victimisation experienced by females in Australia.

Annie Guest: That one-third rise in men killing their female partner or former partner resulted in 34 deaths in the 12 months to June 2023, an increase from 26 the previous year. Overall, police recorded 232 homicides over the same period, a 4% rise from the previous year. Samantha Bricknell says the toll affirms Indigenous women are the worst affected.

Samantha Bricknell: The homicide rate for First Nations women has been really anywhere between 2 to 10 times the rate for non-Indigenous women. And we do know with both First Nations and non-Indigenous women that most of them are victims of intimate partner homicide.

Annie Guest: Amid these appalling statistics, there's a suggestion that pandemic lockdowns potentially saved some women from being murdered by a former partner.

Samantha Bricknell: So we did have a bit of a reduction of intimate partner homicide in the two COVID years. And we need to see going forward whether this increase into 22-23 is a genuine increase or a return to pre-pandemic levels. So overall since 1989-90, we've had around 1,667 women who have died at the hands of an intimate partner. And those numbers have varied over the years but have generally decreased since 1989-90.

Sabra Lane: That's report co-author Samantha Bricknell ending our reporter Annie Guest's story there. In a joint statement, Federal Ministers for Women and Social Services Katy Gallagher and Amanda Rishworth, as well as the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, say the Government's committed to ending violence against women and children within a generation and that it's invested $2.3 billion to do just that. There's more puzzling information that will feed into that meeting tomorrow of the Prime Minister, Premiers and Leaders about violence against women. One in seven respondents to a survey by Australia's national research organisation for women's safety admit to actually using technology to sexually harass a colleague at work or at home. Political reporter Claudia Long has more from Parliament House.

Dr Asher Flynn: It's the feeling that they're always present.

Claudia Long: Associate Professor in Criminology at Monash University, Asha Flynn, has been examining the state of sexual harassment in Australia's workplaces. Specifically, how perpetrators are using work platforms like email and messaging to harass victims.

Dr Asher Flynn: It's really challenging for people to deal with. It's the omnipresence of it, the fact that it's always around you.

Claudia Long: Of the more than 3,000 participants in her study, one in seven said they'd used tech to sexually harass a colleague. The research with Australia's national research organisation for women's safety, ANROWS, identified that tech to include things like using a team chat to make a derogatory sexual joke or threatening to share nude or sexual images of a colleague via email. And Dr Flynn says the numbers in real life could be even higher.

Dr Asher Flynn: One in seven is quite a significant number, but we would suggest that given around one in three people have experienced some type of sexual harassment, that it is likely that there are higher numbers of people engaging in this type of abuse.

Claudia Long: The study also found that it's often with malicious intent, with one in four perpetrators purposely trying to frighten and humiliate their colleagues.

Dr Asher Flynn: That actually challenges some of the common myths around sexually harassing behaviour, like for example that someone's sexually harassing because they want to have a sexual or personal relationship with the person.

Claudia Long: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 26% of women who experience sexual harassment did so at work, with 57% subjected to it electronically. ANROWS CEO Tessa Boyd-Caine says advancements in tech that have made work easier have also been a double-edged sword.

Tessa Boyd-Caine: This research shows that we haven't kept up with the way technology can also be driving sexual harassment at work. We haven't understood what technology-facilitated workplace sexual harassment looks like, and we certainly haven't got the policies, the procedures and the cultures in place to keep people safe at work through the use of technology.

Claudia Long: Since 2022, employers have been required by law to take steps to try to eliminate sexual discrimination as much as possible. But respondents involved in the ANROWS research said they didn't know where to start. They're urging government to provide mandated requirements and guidance on how to stamp out tech-facilitated sexual harassment, particularly when it comes to consequences for perpetrators, so employers can be part of the solution and have the tools to act. Ms Boyd-Caine says workplaces and government must work together.

Tessa Boyd-Caine: We also need to see coordinated efforts across workplaces and government to prioritise active measures that prevent and effectively respond to workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment.

Sabra Lane: That's Tessa Boyd-Caine from Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety, ending Claudia Long's report. And if you're in an abusive situation or you know someone who is, you can call 1800RESPECT. That's 1800 737 732. If it's an emergency, call triple zero. The Federal and Queensland governments are putting up $940 million of taxpayers' money to build the world's first commercially viable quantum computer in Brisbane. It's also a major part of the Federal Government's Future Made in Australia policy. It is a big gamble. No one's yet built such a device. Quantum computing promises to find solutions to intractable problems like finding ways to quickly decarbonise the planet to stop climate change and solutions to illnesses for which currently there are no effective treatments. They're just two examples. The Industry and Science Minister is Ed Husic. Ed Husic, welcome to AM.

Ed Husic: Morning.

Sabra Lane: This is the holy grail of computing, isn't it? Fault correcting quantum computing. What will it mean if this actually works?

Ed Husic: It's a massive investment by the Australian Government in the future economic and industrial capacity of our nation. Quantum computing is predicted to have profound impact because it'll unleash huge processing power that can be applied in a range of ways from opening up discoveries in new medicines through to improving the way energy networks operate in the lead up to net zero. It represents that next big step of moving beyond the limitations of classic or current computing to what we think will occur longer term with developments in this technology space.

Sabra Lane: Now, PsiQuantum, it's an Australian founded but now an American company. The federal and Queensland governments are committing $470 million each. What does that get? How many jobs? How big is this thing?

Ed Husic: In an immediate sense, it'll create a precinct in Brisbane that will allow PsiQuantum to set up its Asia Pacific headquarters. We are bringing Australians home to make this a reality. Their founders like Jeremy O'Brien, who had done a lot of his work, research work at the University of Queensland, keen to set up the world's first fault tolerant quantum computer on Australian soil. And what it will mean longer term, not just from the jobs that are instantly created, the 400 tech jobs that will be created at that precinct, it's what it does to the whole quantum ecosystem in this country, what it'll enable broader Australian industry to do. And the other big thing out of this Sabra is we are sending a signal to the rest of the world that we want our nation to be a centre for quantum growth, a frontier technology that'll be important for the global economy as well.

Sabra Lane: This is a massive gamble with taxpayer money. When will Australians know if this has been worth the investment?

Ed Husic: So our investment, along with the Queenslanders is as a result of a long cabinet in internal processes and assessments, the technical assessments, the legal and commercial assessments that have been done to inform the decision making. And if you look at PsiQuantum, they are regarded as a global leader in this technology. They have attracted some of the biggest sources of private capital because they've been able to meet their milestones and their work is holding such promise that even US entities like DARPA that have been responsible in part for so many technological innovations in the world through the challenges that they run, has worked in with PsiQuantum. So there is a lot of promise in this firm. There's a lot of work being done to assess it and the investment has been set up in a way to ensure that...

Sabra Lane: Sorry Minister, I'm going to have to get in here. There is a lot of promise. There is no guarantee yet. This is a bit of a gamble.

Ed Husic: It's frontier technology. There are never guarantees with frontier technology.

Sabra Lane: And the company hasn't been able to get you a timeline as to when they will deliver this.

Ed Husic: Well, great minds think alike, Sabra, because I was about to make the point that the sort of finish line in this global race is estimated to be 2026-27. But again, it's frontier technology. So we recognise that there are elements of risk to this, but we also understand there are huge elements of reward to it as well. And the payoff is for a much stronger economy, secure jobs into the long term.

Sabra Lane: All right. 2026-27. If it hasn't emerged, you pull the plug.

Ed Husic: So we've set this deal up that we have sort of conditions along the way, expectations of our performance milestones as we release the investment in batches, depending on performance. So we've tried to get the balance right to manage the protection of taxpayer dollars with the investment in our economic and industrial capability long term.

Sabra Lane: You talked about 400 jobs that it will create in Queensland. It's a politically sensitive state for the next state and federal elections, actually. Is there any... Should we read something into that? And the other question I have, the 400 jobs, have we got the qualified people here now? Are we going to have to import those people?

Ed Husic: Two things. So as I referenced earlier, PsiQuantum's founders come from Queensland. They want to bring their smarts, their know-how back home. And they said that that's where they want to be able to work. So one. Two, what's not recognised is Australia possesses huge talent in this field. In fact, Jeremy O'Brien, the founder, his work is amongst the most cited in quantum research on the planet. And we have so many talented people here. When you look at different parts of the world, you'll often hear an Australian accent in those firms. We have 20 or so quantum-related firms in this country right now. We need to grow the ecosystem. But Australia is recognised per capita as possessing huge talent in this field. So it does make it right. We don't want people to leave our shores because they feel that a promising area is being neglected. And it's effectively the story of PsiQuantum. I mean, their founders left Australia because they didn't think that people had the interest in backing them. And so that's why they've gone. But to their great credit, they've recognised that particularly a government that has a vision about a future made in Australia wants to scale up different activities. And this is one of them.

Sabra Lane: Ed Husic, thanks for talking to AM.

Ed Husic: Thanks, Sabra.

Sabra Lane: And Ed Husic is the Industry Minister. For many families, the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been a really complex scheme to negotiate and talk of change to it has many nervous. People with psychosocial disability worry that there hasn't been enough consultation with them during a recent review into the scheme. Many are concerned they'll no longer receive critical support. Advocates say more work's needed to better understand what they say is one of the most misunderstood disabilities so that people can get the help they need. With more, here's National Disability Affairs reporter Nas Campanella.

Nas Campanella: There are days when Kristin Gillespie's disability is so debilitating she can't make a meal or leave the house.

Kristin Gillespie: It feels like I'm trying to swim laps in an Olympic-sized swimming pool full of mud. I have terrible brain fog. I have a lot of trouble thinking clearly. I feel completely overwhelmed.

Nas Campanella: The 60-year-old mother of three lives with psychosocial disability and a string of mental health diagnosis including complex post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. Ms Gillespie has always wanted to work. She's been employed in retail and admin roles before running her own businesses. But her psychosocial disability makes holding down a job extremely difficult.

Kristin Gillespie: I'd do really well for a little bit and then I would crash into really severe depression and eventually I realised that this was a pattern and that I had to stop and I had to accept that actually I couldn't work.

Nas Campanella: It's estimated there are 1.1 million Australians living with psychosocial disability and 63,508 participants on the NDIS have it listed as a primary diagnosis. A psychosocial disability is an umbrella term for disability that arises from a mental health issue. Jordan Frith is with the National Mental Health Consumer Carer Forum and says it's not just about having a diagnosis of a mental health condition but about how that impacts a person's ability to function.

Jordan Frith: It's a disabling, often long-term experience of mental health challenges that have caused other impacts on a person's life. So that can be things like reduced ability to maintain and care for their day-to-day needs.

Nas Campanella: The Brisbane advocate who also lives with a psychosocial disability says it's one of the most misunderstood.

Jordan Frith: It's often associated with really stigmatised experiences, substance use, severe mental health challenges and experiences of suicide. So you kind of get the double whammy effect of having a stigma of having a disability as well as the stigma of experiencing a mental health condition and challenge.

Nas Campanella: Supports for this group are patchy and some are worried about the recommendations in last year's NDIS review. They include a new approach to NDIS supports for psychosocial disability focused on personal recovery, a new early intervention pathway and granting access to the scheme based on functional needs rather than a diagnosis. People are concerned their supports will be reduced. In a statement, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says psychosocial disability will remain in the scheme and he expected the size of the cohort to increase not decrease. He says he wanted to reassure Australians the NDIS is here to support people with permanent significant psychosocial disability.

Sabra Lane: Nas Campanella reporting. Medical scientists are closer to developing a universal flu vaccine, which could work on future mutations of the virus. Doherty Institute researchers in Melbourne have identified new fragments of the influenza-B virus that our immune system can attack, and that discovery could be used in the development of a long-lasting vaccine. But when it comes to vaccines currently available, vaccination rates are significantly down on last year and flu cases are up. Rachel Hayter reports.

Archive: Think of this ball as the flu. It gets passed around really easily.

Rachel Hayter: As winter approaches, public health campaigns urge us to get vaccinated against influenza. But what if we had a universal flu vaccine that didn't need updating every year? The Doherty Institute's new research into the human body's killer T cells has brought that possibility a step closer.

Prof Katherine Kedzierska: Killer T cells are the cells that generally recognise small virus fragments that remain unchanged in the virus' history.

Rachel Hayter: Professor Katherine Kedzierska is head of the Institute's Human T Cell Laboratory.

Prof Katherine Kedzierska: They are like ninjas of our immune system.

Rachel Hayter: Our ninja killer T cells are special because after they kill the virus, they remember it.

Prof Katherine Kedzierska: They can establish long-lasting immunological memory that can provide us with at least some level of protection from the next influenza infection, even if the virus mutates to some extent.

Rachel Hayter: We already know of 18 viral fragments that our T cells can attack. But after sifting through hundreds of influenza B virus particles, Professor Kedzierska's team has identified nine more.

Prof Katherine Kedzierska: Now we've got 27 of such unchanged influenza B fragments that can potentially constitute a vaccine.

Rachel Hayter: There are four types of influenza virus, A, B, C and D. Influenza A, B and C impact humans, but the flus that co-circulate annually are A and B. Professor Paul Griffin is an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist. He says a universal vaccine is still a way off, but it would be a welcome tool in preventing the burden of disease.

Prof Paul Griffin: Last year, for example, there were over 250,000 cases and nearly 400 deaths. And in addition to those figures, the additional burden on our healthcare system, which is stretched at baseline and still dealing with COVID to a degree, is also very significant.

Rachel Hayter: And this year's looking worse already. The National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System has shown a record-breaking first quarter, with more than 30,400 lab-confirmed influenza cases.

Prof Paul Griffin: That's why we need people to understand the importance of getting vaccinated each and every year.

Rachel Hayter: And doctors warn until a universal flu vaccine is available, the best way to protect yourself from the virus is by getting this year's shot.

Sabra Lane: Rachel Hayter reporting and that's AM for today. Thanks for your company. I'm Sabra Lane.