The Daily Telegraph editorial: Chinese telco Huawei deeply embedded in our infrastructure and mobile network
Serious security concerns have led the federal government to ban Huawei from our 5G network, and Telstra has stopped selling Huawei smartphones, but our special report has discovered the giant Chinese-government owned enterprise is already deeply embedded in Australian infrastructure and mobile phone network.
By and large, globally interconnected economies and trade are very good things.
Those who are quick to condemn globalisation ought to first consider the trade benefits that are very likely apparent within their own homes.
In the kitchen, inexpensive imported microwave ovens. In the living room, an inexpensive high-definition television.
Throughout the house, laptops and mobile phones. And in the driveway, an affordable car with power steering, airconditioning and other features previously considered luxuries.
But interconnectedness is not an entirely positive experience.
Our defence and civil systems are also connected to other nations. And when those nations may not always have Australia’s interests at heart, these connections become problematic.
As The Daily Telegraph reports, giant Chinese-government owned enterprise Huawei happens to be deeply embedded in Australian infrastructure and mobile phone networks.
Serious security concerns have already led Telstra to stop selling Huawei-manufactured smartphones.
Additionally, the federal government has banned Huawei from participating in our planned 5G network, scheduled to be introduced in 2020.
The same reason is responsible for all of these moves: Australian businesses and our government are worried about Australian data being relayed to the Chinese Communist government via technology companies owned by that government.
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A parallel situation during the Cold War would have seen Russian enterprises somehow connected to our phone and television systems. It would have been unimaginable.
The least-probable claims hold that Huawei has engineered a “kill switch” that could instantly plunge all connected networks into darkness. That may be far-fetched, but it is not beyond belief that China has gained vital insights into our various electronic structures.
“Having sold the product, if they have inserted vulnerabilities, and if they know how the networks are set up, they’re easier to take down,” cybersecurity expert Fergus Hanson explains.
“It’s about hospitals, electricity, gas networks, solar.”
When everything is interconnected, you just hope that certain links do not turn toxic. At that point, Australia could end up very much disconnected.
MCG PITCH TESTING PATIENCE
The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch was criticised last year when it failed to generate a worthy Boxing Day Test battle between bat and ball.
Regrettably, similar criticism might follow the current Australia-India Test, which saw very little first-day action.
Let us hope matters improve, otherwise we are looking at five days of cricket for 1075 runs and just 10 wickets.
That lively Perth track sure is looking good right now, isn’t it? Perhaps it should become a standard pitch across all major Australian Test cricket venues.
BISHOP SPLASH TELLS A TALE
Stop the boats! Julie Bishop wants to get off!
The former foreign minister ended up in the drink yesterday after enjoying the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race aboard Wild Oats X.
This was a planned and practised manoeuvre, of course, and Bishop was quickly scooped up by a waiting rescue craft.
But some of the ex-foreign minister’s subsequent comments sounded more like topical political observations
“I have been through this time and time again,” Bishop said, definitely not talking about repeated Liberal Party leadership spills.
“It was more like pushed off,” Bishop laughed, not referring at all to her role in removing former PM Tony Abbott.
“When I had to jump I was a little nervous,” Bishop reported, not describing her Cabinet resignation after a failed leadership run against Scott Morrison.
“I was quite sad to say goodbye,” Bishop noted, not about ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull.
As yachting commentators go, Julie Bishop would make a very good Canberra press gallery correspondent.
The Daily Telegraph, printed and published by the proprietor, Nationwide News Pty Ltd A.C.N. 008438828 of 2 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010, at 26-52 Hume Highway, Chullora. Responsibility for election comment is taken by the Editor, Ben English.
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