HUAWEI — SECURITY
29. Hon COLIN TINCKNELL to the Leader of the House
representing the Premier:
Yesterday in Hungary, the United
States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, issued a warning to all US allies that
doing business with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei comes with
significant risk for information security and privacy that could imperil
cooperation with the United States. On 3 December last year, the head of MI6,
Alex Younger, expressed similar concerns for Britain's allies, and the
governments of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA, other Australian
states and our own federal government have all announced bans on Huawei's
infrastructure technologies.
(1) In light of
these two serious warnings from Australia's two most significant
military and intelligence allies, will the Premier seek a further security
briefing with Australia's security agencies in an effort to better understand
the obvious concerns shared by all members of the Five Eyes security program,
besides the Premier and his government?
(2) If not, why
not?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) The
advice the government received on this issue from federal agencies remains
relevant, noting that the Public Transport Authority's radio network
will be a 4G network not a 5G network. The Australian government decision of
August 2018 was in relation to participation in 5G networks.