Australian politicians, in the reasonable pursuit of fleet efficiency, have approved Chinese-made EVs for ministerial use. According to a Sky News commentator, however, these cars are not merely transport, they are “rolling microphones”. In fact, they are the vehicles that will keep moving when the next fuel shock arrives.

Sky News has declared the six BYD (Build Your Dreams) electric vehicle models for use by Australian politicians as “the rolling microphone in the parliamentary garage”. This latest ‘China suspect’ concerns something far less dramatic than a grey-hulled destroyer thousands of kilometres off our shore. It’s a taxpayer-funded electric vehicle with excellent lumbar support and a very quiet motor. But, according to the Sky News commentator, “if you’re in a Chinese-made vehicle, they are listening to every word you say”.

It is a remarkable claim, and a revealing one. The Australian Signals Directorate – the professionals paid to worry about precisely these threats – did not object to Chinese EVs entering the ministerial fleet. That detail did not make it into the Sky News segment.  Although no evidence has been given by our world-class intelligence officers, News Corp has pulled off a familiar trick: manufacturing a national security crisis out of a fleet procurement decision.

The irony of the........

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