Ensuring safeguards for national security in government buying has taken flight again with questions raised about Chinese-made drones purchased accross federal agencies.
The federal government has bought more than 3000 DJI-branded drones, half of which are owned by CSIRO.
It comes after the Government put steps in place to remove Chinese-made surveillance cameras purchased for 250 government sites, including defence.
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, and Liberal Senator for Victoria, James Patterson is pushing calls for the Australian Government to make national security a higher priority in public purchasing.
Senator Patterson’s audit of the use of DJI drones across the Australian public service found at least 3,114 drone devices were on the books in at least 38 government entities.
The UK Government is set to establish a new National Security Unit for Procurement under a Procurement Bill to combat emerging threats, such as companies looking to win public contracts and gain access to sensitive information or sites which could threaten the government.
The NZ Government recently revealed it has issued new guidance to come into effect on 14 August to assist buyers in assessing and managing national security risks
Senator Patterson says Australia should jump on the front foot too.
“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,” Senator Patterson said.
“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.”
DJI refutes allegations or claims of direct links to Beijing.
