July 5, 2023
An audit has revealed more than 3,000 devices by a Chinese drone manufacturer with links to the People’s Liberation Army have been used by at least 38 Australian Government departments and agencies.
Chinese drone manufacturer DJI was blacklisted by the United States in October 2022 on national security grounds because of its connections to the Chinese military. DJI is also deemed to be complicit in human rights abuses against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.
In response, I launched a government-wide audit in March through Senate Questions on Notice which has revealed yet another alarming exposure to high-risk authoritarian technology, following earlier audits of TikTok application use and Hikvision and Dahua cameras.
At least 3,114 drone devices have been used by the Australian Government, including at our borders, and by our military, navy, air force for battle training.
While Defence Minister Richard Marles’ decision to ground its drone fleet across the Defence portfolio is welcome, it does not go far enough and only came about after I launched the audit.
As a first step, the Albanese Government should urgently order a government-wide grounding of all DJI drone fleets, as the ADF, Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force have already done.
Going forward, 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.
Earlier this month, I called on the Albanese Government to establish a new office within the Department of Home Affairs to assess security threats from high-risk technology originating from authoritarian countries.
This Office should map and remove problematic technology already embedded in government systems, while also assessing emerging technologies before they are deployed to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place.
Coincidentally, a week after I suggested the Australian Government establish this construct, the UK Government tabled amendments to a Procurement Bill currently before Parliament which would establish a National Security Unit for Procurement in the UK Cabinet Office.
This UK government Procurement Office would investigate suppliers who may pose a risk to national security, and assess whether companies should be barred from public procurements.
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.
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