{"id":702821,"date":"2026-05-29T19:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702821\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T19:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:34:15","slug":"chinese-evs-asio-says-politicians-shouldnt-be-having-conversations-in-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702821\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese EVs: ASIO says politicians shouldn\u2019t be having conversations in cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MatthewSave<\/p>\n

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Warnings from domestic spy agency ASIO for politicians not to have sensitive conversations while driving have prompted an opposition call for a security review into whether Chinese electric vehicles should remain on the list of taxpayer-funded cars available to parliamentarians.<\/p>\n

Officials confirmed during Senate estimates hearings this week that more than 30 per cent of the vehicles now available under the parliamentarian vehicle scheme are Chinese-made EVs, including models made by BYD and MG.<\/p>\n

\"AA BYD electric car on display at the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany.AP<\/p>\n

ASIO deputy-director general Lisa Alonso Love said during hearings on Thursday night: \u201cIn relation to any vehicle, whether it\u2019s connected or not, we would suggest that members of parliament or public servants do not have conversations that contain sensitive or classified information.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously a connected car may have other vectors to gather that information, but those conversations should only ever happen in places that are set up for classified conversations, and we would say that people should be conscious of the things that they are discussing in vehicles, knowing that people may be able to get that information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition special minister of state James McGrath called for a review into the taxpayer-funded vehicle scheme, saying he had serious concerns about whether proper consideration had been given to national security risks.<\/p>\n

He said the ASIO warnings should \u201cset off alarm bells across the parliament\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"LiberalLiberal senator James McGrath.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Albanese government cannot pretend there is no national security issue here, when these vehicles are effectively rolling Chinese data centres,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need transparency, proper safeguards and a clear understanding of what data these vehicles collect, where that data goes, and who is accessing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greens senator David Shoebridge during Senate estimates hearings on Thursday said all connected vehicles \u2013 not just electric vehicles \u2013 were vulnerable to the same security concerns.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"xx\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has previously defended his decision to drive a Chinese-made electric vehicle<\/a>, after the opposition accused him of putting national security secrets at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately on being appointed to this portfolio, Minister Burke informed his department and security agencies that he had a Chinese-made vehicle,\u201d cabinet minister Murray Watt said in 2024, reading a statement provided by Burke\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was given advice on appropriate precautions to take and has taken those precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberal MP Mary Aldred has previously expressed concerns about the inclusion of Chinese-made vehicles on the list of cars that can be used by politicians, saying Australia was lagging countries like the United States.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Recently<\/a><\/p>\n

Chinese-made electric vehicles were already virtually banned in the US because of steep tariffs, but the sale of Chinese vehicles containing connectivity-enabling software has been explicitly prohibited since March under new rules.<\/p>\n

A US ban on cars with hardware provided by Chinese-owned entities will begin in 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnected vehicles from China could collect sensitive data<\/a> about our citizens and our infrastructure and send this data back to the People\u2019s Republic of China,\u201d former US president Joe Biden said when announcing a probe that led to the rules.<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MatthewMatthew Knott<\/a> is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-702821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}