Australia’s spy chief Mike Burgess warned government about Huawei risk to 5G network

AUSTRALIA’S electronic spy agency chief has revealed the nation’s entire 5G network would have been put at risk if Chinese company Huawei had been allowed to build it.

AUSTRALIA’S electronic spy agency chief has revealed the nation’s entire 5G network would have been put at risk if Chinese company Huawei had been allowed to build it.

Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Signals Directorate, the nation’s second biggest spy agency, last night told a forum in Canberra he had advised the government to “exclude high risk vendors from the entirety of 5G networks” because a “potential threat anywhere in the network is a threat to the whole network”.

It comes two months after the Turnbull Government quietly announced - during the chaotic week of the leadership spill - that it would block Huawei and Chinese company ZTE from building the 5G network.

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Australian Signals Directorate director-general Mike Burgess at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

The announcement, made by Scott Morrison as the then-Acting Home Affairs Minister, comes amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Canberra and did not specifically mention the two Chinese companies but stated that any companies “likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law” would be prevented from building the network.

Mr Burgess did not name the companies during his speech but told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute forum last night “the stakes could not be higher,” ABC reports.

“This is about more than just protecting the confidentiality of our information — it is also about integrity and availability of the data and systems that we rely on in our everyday lives,” he said, noting the network would be key to everything from water and power supplies to driverless cars.

He noted “high risk vendors” could not be allowed to build any part of the system because the “core” and the “edge” of the 5G network was harder to define than previous networks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Alan Barber

Prime Minister Morrison was asked this morning if he was concerned that banning Huawei from building the 5G network could damage Australia’s relations with China.

He responded simply: “No.”

In August, Mr Morrison said in a statement the new 5G “architecture” provided a way to “circumvent traditional security controls by exploiting equipment in the edge of the network — exploitation which may affect overall network integrity and availability, as well as the confidentiality of customer data.”

“The government has found no combination of technical security controls that sufficiently mitigate the risks,” he said.

Mr Morrison added: “While we are protected as far as possible by current security controls, the new network, with its increased complexity, would render these current protections ineffective in 5G.”