How this was researched

Approach

Selma's own material came first: the knowledge base, the Selma skill, the investor pack research notes, the build spec and the offline zone brief, along with selma.au. Six research streams then ran in parallel on 22 September 2026 (three more followed for Commercials Day: capex and grants, events and the waitlist, and investors): not-for-profits, development and the Indo-Pacific, government, SMEs, enterprise, and offline and solar feasibility. Each used public web sources, preferring 2025–2026 primary documents, and tagged every figure with a confidence level.

Fact check

Twenty headline claims (aid budgets, the OVIC end date, procurement thresholds, NFP survey figures, cloud prices, ABS counts, APRA and TPB guidance, hardware prices, language support and more) were re-checked against their primary sources after the site was built. All twenty were confirmed; five had wording tightened as a result.

Confidence tags

Verified taken from a primary source (regulator, statistics agency, official price list) during this research.
Secondary reported by a reputable secondary source, a vendor-commissioned survey, or older data.
Estimate our own calculation or judgement, with working shown in the notes.

Currency

All prices are in Australian dollars, ex GST unless stated. US prices were converted at A$1.40–1.52 per US dollar depending on the stream (the enterprise stream used the RBA rate of 18 September 2026, A$1.40). Treat conversions as approximate.

Limits

Each research stream hit its web search limit before finishing, so some items rest on general knowledge and are flagged. The biggest gaps:

• No wall-socket measurement of a Selma unit exists. Power figures are built up from component reviews.
• Counts of ombudsmen, integrity bodies, regulators and courts; the ABS 50–199 staff split; the APRA entity count.
• Prices for Dell, HPE, Go1, Zylon, Harvey and Legora are estimates; none are published.
• Microsoft and Google AI partnerships in the Pacific, and which managing contractor runs which programme.
• MADLAD-400's Pacific language coverage and the AUD price of the new Mac mini.
• Every "no competitor found" statement. Check before claiming "only" or "first" anywhere public.
• The A$3K hardware cost, given memory price rises through 2026.

Full research notes

The complete notes behind each page, with every source and confidence flag, are in the research folder next to this site:

• 01 Not-for-profits
• 02 Development and Indo-Pacific
• 03 Government and public bodies
• 04 Small and medium business
• 05 Mid-market and enterprise
• 06 Offline, solar and languages
• 07 Fact check of 20 headline claims
• 08 Capex and co-funding schemes
• 09 Events, waitlist and conference selling
• 10 Investor landscape and strategy
• 11 Fact check of 16 Commercials Day claims
• 12 Selma Enterprise: hardware and models for ~400GB