Surveillance cameras manufactured by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. are mounted on a post at a testing station near the company's headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on Tuesday, 28 May 2019. (Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg) Deputy Prime Minister and defence minister Richard Marles will order an assessment of the use of technology produced by Hikvision and Dahua in the department, he said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.
“Where those particular cameras are found they’re going to be removed. There is an issue here and we’re going to deal with it,” he said.
Hikvision and Dahua have been accused by US officials of involvement in China’s crackdown in the far western region of Xinjiang, where as many as a million Uyghur Muslims have been placed in mass detention camps. China has repeatedly denied any accusations of human rights abuses against its Uyghur minority.
The US, a close Australian security partner, banned the use of the technology in November, stating national security concerns. At the time, Hikvision denied its products presented any threat to national security, while Dahua made a similar statement in 2021.
‘Completely secure’
Since the election of Australia’s centre-left Labour government in May, relations between Canberra and Beijing have been steadily improving after years of diplomatic tension. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a press conference on Thursday that he wasn’t concerned about a backlash from China if Australia decided to remove the technology.
Marles told the ABC that while he didn’t want to “overstate” the risks, Australia’s government wanted to “make sure our facilities are completely secure”.
The interview came after opposition Australian senator James Paterson earlier on Thursday released details of an audit which found widespread use of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance equipment at more than 250 government sites across the country.
Paterson said in his release that Australia’s Department of Defence had not been able to state how many Hikvision and Dahua cameras were currently in operation on its premises. In his interview, Marles said the issue had preceded his party’s time in government. BM/DM