An audit organised by opposition cyber security spokesman James Paterson has revealed more than 3000 DJI devices have been in use in at least 38 Australian Government departments and agencies.
DJI, ‘with links to the People’s Liberation Army’ according to Senator Paterson’s press release, was blacklisted by the United States in October 2022 on national security grounds. He adds that ‘DJI is also deemed to be complicit in human rights abuses against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.’
He claims the audit reveals at least 3114 drone devices have been used by the Australian Government, ‘including at our borders, and by our military, navy, air force for battle training.’
Defence Minister Richard Marles has already grounded the DJI drone fleet in Defence earlier this year after lobbying from Senator Paterson.
Paterson is now calling for ‘a government-wide grounding of all DJI drone fleets, as the ADF, Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force have already done.’
He has also called for 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’.
The UK Government plans to establish a similar National Security Unit for Procurement in the UK Cabinet Office, which 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,’ he said.
The Federal Government has already banned the TikTok app and the use of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance cameras in government as these Chinese businesses are subject to China’s 2017 national security laws that require all China-based companies to co-operate with China’s intelligence agencies.
Some 38 government agencies have confirmed that they operate DJI equipment, including the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (six devices), Veterans’ Affairs (four devices), Foreign Affairs and Trade (15 devices), and Climate Change and Energy (82 devices).
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