July 5, 2023
Thousands of DJI drones and related accessories are held widely across government departments and Commonwealth agencies, despite the devices being avoided by defence, police and border agents.Shadow Cyber Security Minister James Paterson has repeatedly questioned departments over Chinese-made Hikvision cameras, Tik Tok use on government devices and now drones in the absence of a formal audit by government.
DJI was blacklisted by the United States in October 2022 on national security grounds because of links to China's military — the company has also been accused of assisting state surveillance of Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang province.
Senator Paterson was told by Commonwealth agencies they held a total 3,116 DJI internet-connected drones or DJI accessories which were not able to connect to the internet.
More than half are held by CSIRO, mostly for research purposes, while other agencies including Australian Federal Police and Services Australia confirmed they owned drone devices but would not state how many.
Defence confirmed it owned "in the order of" 450 drone devices but that they had been grounded after a "cease use" order at the end of May.
Similar orders have been issued to border agents, and the AFP says it is "transitioning away" from the drones.
Other departments or Commonwealth-funded agencies that held DJI assets included Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Climate Change and Energy Department, the ABC, Home Affairs and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Senator Paterson said the government should immediately order drones to be grounded, and establish an office within Home Affairs that could assess security threats "from high-risk technology originating from authoritarian countries".
"The government needs to move beyond its whack-a-mole approach, where it is reliant on an opposition senator to sound the alarm on cyber security risks, towards a more systemic, robust and proactive model," Senator Paterson wrote on his website.
"The Albanese government should act now before it's too late to mitigate the risk of products being weaponised to conduct cyber disruptions, surveillance and large-scale foreign interference."
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the Coalition had "every chance" to implement measures to mitigate technology threats over the nine years it was in power.
"The Australian government is committed to keeping Australians safe and will not shy away from making tough decisions to amend our security settings if and when appropriate," Ms O'Neil said.
"We are continuing to assess Australia’s technology security policy settings to ensure they remain fit for purpose."
