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KEY POINTS:
- The federal government is being urged to rip out hundreds of Chinese-made cameras.
- Nearly a thousand have been found in Commonwealth buildings across Australia.
- Senator James Paterson says agencies are suffering an ‘alarming exposure’.
An audit of federal agencies, sparked by Liberal senator James Paterson in September, has found at least 913 Chinese-made cameras located across 254 government buildings.
Senator James Paterson says Australia’s agencies are ‘alarmingly exposed’ to the devices. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
And with some departments still unable to say how many devices they’ve installed, Senator Paterson is demanding immediate action, warning federal agencies are suffering an “alarming exposure” to Chinese-made surveillence.
So where are the devices, and do they pose a threat to national security?
Where are the cameras?
They’ll also be removed from National Disability Insurance Scheme in Geelong, while at least one has been found in Department of Defence buildings.
The War Memorial has already announced a decision to remove devices. Source: AAP
Senator Paterson found they are “riddled” with the devices, though is yet to hear back about whether any are located inside Parliament House.
It conceded there are “some legacy” CCTV systems in “non-sensitive areas” of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but said they are not connected to the internet or agency IT networks.
Are the Chinese-made cameras a risk?
“They present a really unique and significant national security risk.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali. Source: SBS News
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has also said where data could end up, and what it could be used for, is of “of great concern to me and my agency”.
At the time, Hikvision flatly denied having the capacity to transmit data to third parties. “[It is] categorically false to represent Hikvision as a threat to national security,” it said.
What do experts say?
“All internet devices are hackable. [But] the problem with the cameras is not so much that they’re hackable, it’s that they’re already pre-programmed to potentially send the information they receive and report back to third parties,” he said.
Mr Phair urged the government to take the threat seriously, but urged a “measured risk approach” rather than alarmism.
“We can certainly use devices manufactured by other countries. In doing so, we should look at what those countries are and do an analysis of those cameras to see how safe and secure they are.”
Could this hamper relations between Australia and China?
Beijing was angered by the federal government’s 2021 decision to tear up Victoria’s Road and Belt initiative, which came just three years after it banned Chinese tech company Huawei from its 5G network.
Anthony Albanese says Australia will respond “transparently” and in the national interest. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Beijing criticised the Belt and Road decision as an “unreasonable and provocative move”, and the Huawei ban as “discrimination”.
Washington also said this week that Beijing had refused its request for a phone call, after the US downed a Chinese “spy” balloon which had been travelling through its airspace.
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