Over 900 video cameras, surveillance systems, intercoms, and other electric gear with links to the Chinese Communist Party are currently installed in Australian government buildings across the nation.
The Australian released a blistering report this morning, revealing “at least” 913 cameras manufactured by Hikvision and Dahua — both on the US and Britain’s ban list — are operating across 250 different buildings, including Defence, Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department.
Australia’s Five Eyes and AUKUS partners moved to ban these two companies in November. Both companies, and indeed any business that operates out of China, is beholden to the Chinese National Intelligence Law 2017, which requires they hand over all data to Chinese government agencies if requested.
Hikvision and Dahua are both part-owned by the Chinese Communist Party, and have appalling human rights records, providing the Chinese government with the facial recognition technology used to hunt Uighur people in the Xinjiang province.
These revelations came to light after a six-month investigation led by the opposition spokesman on cyber security and countering foreign interference, James Paterson.
Paterson found Australia’s government agencies were “riddled with CCP spyware” and called for its immediate removal.
Among the discoveries were 154 Hikvision/Dahua devices in the Department of Climate Change and Energy, 115 in Treasury, and 138 in the Department of Social Services.
“This presents a unique national security risk to Australia. With Hikvision and Dahua devices fitted across the Australian government, including at the heart of our national intelligence community, the companies and their employees may be forced to provide the Chinese government with their 24-hour access to valuable surveillance data,’’ he said.
“Our AUKUS partners and closest security allies, the United States and UK, announced in November that they were banning the devices from all government buildings because of the national security threat that they pose. So far, the Australian government has announced no plan to do so, although some government departments and agencies including the National Disability Insurance Agency and the Australian War Memorial have pledged to remove the devices from their sites.
“We urgently need a plan from the Albanese government to rip every one of these devices out of Australian government departments and agencies.’’
Following The Australian’s report, Defence Minister Richard Marles told Radio National this morning he has ordered the removal of the gear.
“We’re doing an assessment of all the technology for surveillance within the defence estate and where those particular cameras are found, they’ll be removed,” Marles said.
“It’s a significant thing that’s been brought to our attention and we’re going to fix it – it’s obviously been there for some time and predates us coming into office.”
