Australia has decided to examine and remove Chinese-made surveillance technology used in government buildings.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Richard Marlis said Chinese-made cameras could pose a security risk to the country.
Two companies, Hikvision and Dahua, have provided at least 913 cameras, intercoms, electronic entry systems, and video recorders in more than 250 Australian government buildings.
Both companies are partially owned by the Chinese government.
"We would have no way of knowing if the sensitive information, images and audio collected by these devices are secretly being sent back to China against the interests of Australian citizens,'' shadow Minister for Cyber Security James Paterson, who requested the audit, said.
The checks came after Britain announced in November that it would stop installing surveillance cameras linked to China in sensitive buildings.
Some US states have also banned vendors and products from several Chinese technology companies.
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