Qld finally reveals its position on $1b quantum deal
Queensland's Liberal-National government confirmed it will proceed with the $1 billion deal to build a world-leading super computer following a months-long review and scathing comments of the agreement while in opposition.
The Crisafulli government launched a review of the deal with US-based start-up PsiQuantum within days of coming to office in November, raising concerns about the decision-making and competitive rigour of the selection process.
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Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Nationals Leader David Littleproud demand Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rules out kowtowing on US beef imports
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'needs to' immediately rule out kowtowing to Donald Trump on biosecurity laws on US beef imports, Nationals Leader David Littleproud has demanded. Government officials reportedly told The Sydney Morning Herald that Australia could alter its biosecurity laws to allow US beef exports without risks to local industry, in a move to appease Trump as he wages his trade war. Australia banned US beef in 2003 after a mad cow disease outbreak before undoing this in 2019 when the outbreak subsided. Cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US is still banned, however, this could be changed according to the report. Mr Littleproud raised concerns about Australia's cattle industry on Friday and urged the Prime Minister not to use the sector as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the US President. 'There needs to be certainty. The Prime Minister needs to rule it out immediately,' the Nationals Leader said on Sky News. 'He needs to make sure that he's very clear with Australian producers that our biosecurity standards will not be reduced and that … if we want to get imports that originated from Mexico or Canada, that there's some traceability on it like Australian producers have.' He called for the Prime Minister to be transparent with Australian beef producers as concerns fester about the nation's biosecurity following this report. 'I don't think Australian producers are asking for anything unfair here, they're just trying to protect their production systems, making sure that they can not only feed Australians but feed the world,' Mr Littleproud said. 'The Prime Minister and his department who are mooting these things need to be very, very clear with Australian beef producers that it's not on the table and it won't be on the table at all. 'But when you start getting these reports - you don't start seeing these reports unless there's smoke and when there's smoke, there's fire.' Australia exports more than $4b of beef to the US annually, making it the largest market for Aussie beef exports behind China. After Trump revealed his sweeping tariffs and invited impacted nations to negotiate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to protect the nation's biosecurity laws, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and news publishers against tech giants. 'We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination,' he said in a statement. Cattle Australia chief executive Chris Parker issued a statement highlighting the importance of traceability for foreign-produced beef. 'Our position is that the US needs to be able to demonstrate it can either trace cattle born in Mexico and Canada, or has systems that are equivalent to Australia's traceability, before imports of meat could occur from non-US cattle,' Mr Parker said. 'Cattle Australia is in ongoing communication with the Federal Government regarding this issue and the vital importance that our science-based biosecurity system is not compromised as part of trade discussions with any country.' Mr Albanese is expected to have a meeting with Trump either on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada or in the US later in June where the Prime Minister will make Australia's case for tariff exemptions. Australia faces 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium alongside a broad 10 per cent levy on all goods, which is still paused by the Trump Administration.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
What the numbers really say about Crisafulli's crime crackdown
During the election campaign, Crisafulli vowed to resign as premier if he didn't reduce the number of victims affected by crime. This, he said, was the metric he should be judged on. 'I'm serious about it, and I'm not giving myself any wriggle room. It's victim numbers. 'It's not number of unique offences and what happens on a Wednesday and how many young people repeat. It's victim numbers. How many people have had their life torn apart? And there will be fewer victims.' We zoomed in on victim numbers, and found that for six of the 'adult crime, adult time' offences, they have been increasing, comparing just January to March annually, and decreased in 2025, but they're still higher than in 2022. Looking specifically at robbery and grievous assault on a quarterly basis, victim numbers have fluctuated and had a low point about the start of the pandemic. Despite a recent fall, robbery is still higher than in any quarter between 2001 and 2018. It's worth noting these victim numbers include victims of adults as well as child offenders. On May 21, the Crisafulli government added 20 extra offences to the adult crime, adult time framework, including rape and arson. We analysed statistics for rape and attempted rape, and arson, and found reported offences increased January to March 2022 and 2023, decreased in those months of 2024, but then increased in 2025. But what does this actually mean? Hemming says it's crucial to approach the data with caution. He also notes the time lags between arrests and the offender coming before a court. 'However, once the small hardcore group of repeat juvenile offenders begin to be impacted by the 'adult crime, adult time' legislation, there may well be a significant reduction in juvenile crime because 17 per cent of youth offenders commit almost half of all youth crime, and they will be off the streets for a longer period of time,' he says. Ultimately, Hemming says it's dangerous to predict trends when the factors are so complex and interrelated. He also notes there is ambiguity in the phrase 'victim', as it's unclear if multiple offences against one person should be counted as just one 'victim', or multiple. Labor recently moved an amendment to the latest youth crime laws, calling for monthly victim and offence data, so Queenslanders did not have to 'rely on inconsistent cherry-picked information through a partisan filter'. This was defeated during the parliamentary debate. We asked Angela Higginson, a quantitative criminologist and associate professor with QUT, to take look at the numbers for us. We also asked her if the government was cherry-picking data. She says: 'The simple answer is yes, when data is specifically extracted and used to support a policy position, it is invariably chosen deliberately.' 'This is not unique to the current government, and it is not necessarily deceptive.' Higginson notes the most important thing to recognise is that all crime statistics are the result of public reporting and police action. Therefore, there is no such thing as a completely neutral crime data source. Loading She says data on the number of charges is less useful than other comparisons, given it is a combination of reporting and police action, and so there is a lot of variability. 'This data is possibly the type most likely to be influenced by policy decisions,' she says. Higginson says a policy focus on the policing of young people not only tends to increase crime numbers, but research tells us that the earlier a young person comes into contact with police, the greater the likelihood of future offending. She says one of the most obvious external factors to influence crime trends in recent years was the pandemic, but also noted changes in numbers could be policy-driven.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Shame on those who whip up hate against trans athletes for clicks and votes
'We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren's participation in the girls' track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.' Brava, brava, brava. What decency. And what a wonderful stand to take. Closer to home, last month we had our own major tabloid/talkback story about a transgender athlete at a South Australian Catholic school, who, it was breathlessly reported, had run riot at an athletics carnival. One father was quoted, saying the student 'broke a number of records competing against girls at a recent sports day ... breaking all the girls records'. It was great hate-bait, and the usual suspects on talkback and tabloid went hard. Got some hate you want to spread? Our lines are open! The former Liberal MP Gary Hardgrave certainly opened up on Sky News. Loading 'In the end,' he said, 'weak men want to compete against women and they put on the skirt and say, 'I'm a woman now, and I want to compete against you'. But even weaker men support those people in that kind of decision.' I repeat, great hate-bait! Manna from heaven. Did anyone pause, ever, to think what effect this has on the target of the hate-bait? This week, the ABC show Media Watch did, and made enquiries. And whaddya know? Most of it was nonsense. There was a school athletics meeting last year, creating precisely no controversy in the school at the time. Yes, the 13-year-old transgender athlete did indeed break a record, but it was another girl who actually swept the day breaking seven records. And the effect on the child in question from the pile-on? Devastating. 'No child or family should have to experience the trauma or fear that we have been through,' the mother of the child told the ABC. 'My child's privacy and innocence has been violated without consideration or empathy for the devastating lifelong harm this can cause. It's hard to express how horrific it is to read hateful articles about your child and have them used as clickbait for a political agenda created by adults and forced down the throats of kids who are just trying to be kids.' Read it and weep. Yes, yes, yes, occasionally the issue of an unfair advantage by transgender athletes in sport does arise – usually only at elite level – and is one to be discussed and sorted out by serious people. But that ain't this. The point is that we need to call this kind of stuff for what it is. It is not a genuine attempt to achieve fairness in sport put out by people who have a genuine track record of earnestly examining that very thing. It's just hate-bait, no more, no less, put out by people whose job in life is to stir up big trouble way above and beyond what the actual problem is. It's just hate-bait callously thrown out there to bring in swarms of bone-stupid groper fish who live off that very hate – to boost your ratings, clicks and votes – and to hell with the trauma it causes to their targets. For shame, you bastards. For shame, you bastards. What They Said Lachlan Galvin on the Wests Tigers fans: 'I understand where [Tigers fans] are coming from. I think they can have their opinion, and they can have their hatred and that against me. I understand that.' Joe Montemurro, new coach of the Matildas: 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. The only promise I make is that we will play an exciting brand of football and that the integrity and the level and the respect of the Matildas will always be at the top of my thinking.' Tennis player Daria Kasatkina on her first major tournament after switching allegiances to Australia: 'To feel the support from the stands so many times. I don't know if everyone who was screaming, 'Aussie', were from Australia, but I felt this support . . . So this is the kind of support which I honestly didn't have before, it feels like it's something new to me — but it feels so nice.' Oi! Football manager Pep Guardiola doesn't think he's special: 'Do you think I feel special because I won a lot of titles? No! Forget about it! I feel that special is the doctor that saves lives. The people who invented penicillin. That is a genius. Me? Genius? Come on.' Kath McCann, the Tasmanian Devils' general manager of marketing, corporate affairs and social impact on alternative stadium options: 'This is Plan A and there is no Plan B.' Ticketek on the demand for Ashes tickets: 'We recognise that when we have high-demand events with limited inventory that some fans will miss out and will be disappointed. We encourage all customers not to use multiple browsers when trying to access tickets.' Tennis player Lois Boisson, ranked No.361 in the world, found herself in the headlines in April when an opponent, Harriet Dart, told the umpire, 'Can you tell her to put on some deodorant? She smells really bad.' This week she shocked No.3 seed Jessica Pegula to make the quarter-finals at the French Open, becoming the lowest-ranked quarter-finalist at Roland Garros in at least 40 years. 'I'm not sure what to say. Playing on this court, with this atmosphere, was amazing. I gave my all and in the end I won, which is just incredible. I hope I'm going to win it all!' Boisson was beaten by Coco Gauff in the semi-finals. Loading Aussie Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri on winning his Spain, his fifth win of the season: 'Hard to complain, it has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for . . . The team gave me a great car once again, it's a lot of fun winning races at the moment and I've been enjoying it and I hope the team are too.' New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the 'run it straight' tackle challenge that has gone viral on social media after a teenager died from a serious head injury: 'All I can say to young adults who are participating is you've got some personal responsibility in this. You're hearing the advice from police, from the medical fraternity, from government, from principals saying don't do it. To the adults that are involved in more formal organisation of it and are influencing it and leading this out on social media, I think you need to stop and I can't be any clearer.' 75-year-old runner British runner Sarah Roberts, who took up running just eight years ago, and now holds the over 75 world records over every track distance from 800m to 10,000m indoors and outdoors, as well as 5km and 10km on the road: 'I'd like people to think that they should always try something. You never know what you can do until you try it. Never think you're too old. Give it a go. You will surprise yourself at what you can do if you really try to do something.' Australian 100m sprinter Lachlan Kennedy has broken the ten-second barrier: 'It's so good. I can finally say I run nine.' Here we were, thinking he was going for Best Supporting Actor. He thinks he's the star, and going for Best Actor – and he might be right! Loading Team of the Week Callan Ward. The career of this fellow, the heart and soul of GWS could be over after he tore his ACL – a badly buggered knee, to you and me. Alex Johnston. South Sydney speedster notched 200 NRL tries. Just 12 behind the all-time record held by Ken Irvine. Reds and Brumbies. Good luck to them in the Super Rugby Pacific finals. The Waratahs, meanwhile, have shown some improvement, but finished disappointingly. Australia/South Africa. Competing in next week's World Test Championship final at Lord's. Socceroos. Beat Japan for the first time in 16 years with a thrilling last-minute winner in Perth and as long as they don't lose to Saudi Arabia by five goals early Wednesday morning, they qualify directly for a sixth straight World Cup – an extraordinary turnaround from recent grim times.
