Chinese spycams banned at last from Government facilities

10/02/2023
By Ray Shaw
In Featured News

The Australian Government will ban and remove Chinese Spycams made by Hikvision and Dahua from all government facilities. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said, “We’re going to fix it.”

CyberShack wrote on 27 November 2022 UK joins others in banning Chinese-made security cameras. That and that is worth a read to get the back story. Sadly, our information was incorrect – no action from the Australian Government. You can blame that on the May Federal Election and subsequent change of guard.

A recent audit found that at least 913 Chinese-made cameras were in use at more than 250 Australian government buildings. These included Defence, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Attorney General departments. They were every Federal Department except the Agriculture Department and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Opposition Liberal Party’s cybersecurity spokesman James Paterson claimed he had prompted the audit by asking questions over six months after the Department of Home Affairs could not say how many Chinese-made cameras, access control systems and intercoms were installed in Australian government buildings.

The angst leading to the rip-and-replace order was twofold. First, they represent a threat to national security. Second, for the alleged campaign of repression against the Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

Denial

Hikvision said it was ‘categorically false’ to paint the company as ‘a threat to national security’.

‘No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion. Our products comply with all applicable Australian laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.” The company told the AFP News Agency.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged Australia against ‘overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies’.

We oppose erroneous practices of overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies

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 the mutual trust and cooperation between our two countries.”

Rebuttal

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was not concerned about how China might react to the removal of cameras.

“We act by Australia’s national interest. We do so transparently, and that’s what we will continue to do.”

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said her department would accelerate the removal of Chinese-linked security cameras from government buildings.