The Australian Defence Force (ADF) does not buy electric vehicles (EVs) from Chinese auto giant BYD, senators probing the ADF’s green initiatives have heard.

The country’s top defence officials spent much of Thursday sat before the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, which unleashed volley after volley in questions spanning from the threat of near-term conflict to controversy swirling around a senior officer’s cookbook.

While digging into the ADF’s take-up of EVs, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson asked if any were made in China – Australia’s main regional rival.

Major General Jason Blain, who heads Land Systems Division, replied: “No, we are not.”

…

China poses the biggest security threat to Australia but climate change is not far behind, according to Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty.

In her prodding of the Department of Defence’s green goals, Senator Henderson noted that the 2023 Defence Strategic Review mentioned China “some nine times”, while “climate change” and “climate events” featured “some 17 times”.

“In the department’s opinion and from its assessments, does China or climate change pose the greater threat to Australia’s security and the region’s security?” she asked.

Mr Moriarty said the “deteriorating strategic circumstances represent the greatest challenge to Australia’s defence interests”.

…

  • tau@aussie.zoneEnglish
    3·
    20 days ago

    Yes, it’s a fair enough point to not want a Chinese car due to data security and potential for malicious software but the same applies to basically any modern vehicle. I’d still trust the Europeans and the US more than China at this point but with the demand for (and legal requirements for) in car tech and sensors nobody is building cars without potential vulnerabilities these days.

    Anyways, are EMPs real? If so, it doesn’t matter lol

    They are but the chances of a normal car being the main problem in such a case are pretty low (you’ll probably either be dealing with blast damage/radiation from the nuke that caused it or the power/comms infrastructure going down and taking the trappings of modern society with it). It is an edge case you’d want to consider for the ADF’s combat vehicles but I can’t see it being applicable to their regular car fleet.