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The Australian Department of Defense is dismantling cameras made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua, while the government is considering a complete ban on their use in all government agencies.
The government's use of security products made by Chinese manufacturers gained attention after cyber security minister James Paterson put pressure on the government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Paterson said his office has identified more than 900 data cameras from manufacturers working in Australian government agencies.
"This is a problem... and where these cameras are found, they will be removed," Defense Secretary Richard Marles told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
During parliamentary question hour on Thursday, Senator Murray Watt, speaking on behalf of the government, said the attorney general "asked for advice on whether a nationwide ban is required to address security threats."
Chinese-made technology has raised suspicions internationally due to the alleged influence of Chinese intelligence, fears that have been particularly heightened since the passage of China's National Intelligence Law in 2017, which requires organizations to support intelligence work. The participation of Hikvision and Dahua in serious human rights violations against the Uyghur population in northern China also played a significant role in this issue.
The move is not the first in a string of security equipment bans from Chinese companies.
Previously, a number of bans against these companies were adopted in a number of European countries, and all Hikvision equipment was dismantled in the building of the European Parliament.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission banned imports of Hikvision and Dahua in November on national security grounds. It also banned goods and services from ZTE and Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker.
In November, the UK government ordered government agencies to remove Chinese surveillance equipment from government facilities and consider removing them entirely.
Chinese companies and Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have dismissed allegations that tech companies are acting as part of an intelligence-gathering apparatus. During Thursday's daily press conference, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said China opposed "the erroneous practice of overstretching the concept of national security and the abuse of state power."