Australia to remove Chinese-made cameras from government buildings

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that the government would work to remove Chinese-made cameras from government buildings over security concerns.

Marles said the cameras would be removed from government buildings following an audit by Australian Cyber Security Shadow Minister James Paterson that found at least 913 cameras made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua were installed at 250 government buildings.

"We are doing an assessment of all the technology for surveillance within the defense estate and where those particular cameras are found, they'll be removed," Marles said.

Paterson's audit found that the Department of Climate Change and Energy had 154 cameras manufactured by the two companies operating across 32 sites, while the Department of Social Services had 138 and 115 were in place at the Treasury Department. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet did not have any installed.

The senator called on the government to immediately remove the cameras, citing "both national security and moral concerns" as he alleged that the companies had been implicated in human rights abuses and mass surveillance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as well.

"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," Paterson said.

Paterson also noted that Britain and the United States pointed out concern that data on the cameras could be accessed by the Chinese government when they removed the devices in 2022.

"I don't think we should overstate it but I think it is right to be doing the assessment and making sure that we deal with that and that's what we're going to do," Marles told ABC News.

"That [risk has] obviously been there, I might say, for some time and predates us coming into office but, that said, it's important that we go through this exercise and make sure that our facilities are completely secure."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government is acting in the best interest of his country and was not concerned with how China will react.

Hikvision has pushed against the national security threat claim, with a spokeswoman saying that "no respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Thursday said the Chinese government urges companies to act "in accordance with market principles, international rules and local laws."

"We oppose erroneous practices of over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate and suppress Chinese companies," she said. "We hope the Australian side will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for the normal operation of Chinese companies and do more things that could contribute to mutual trust and cooperation between our two countries."