The removal of Chinese Communist Party-linked surveillance cameras from defence areas and the offices of federal politicians is important, the defence minister says.

The government has directed the Australian Defence Force to audit its surveillance cameras.

Almost 1000 surveillance cameras and other recording devices – some of them banned by the United States and Britain – are installed in government buildings.

In a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Department of Finance officials said there were 65 offices which have Chinese-manufactured Hikvision and Dahua security cameras, with 45 offices yet to have the cameras removed.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the surveillance systems were not spy cameras and that lots of technology was imported from overseas.

He said the government was taking action after it was informed of the issue.

“It’s important that these cameras be removed,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“Within Defence, all the cameras that were registered to this company that we’re aware of, have been removed.

“In addition to that, I’ve also asked Defence to go through and do another audit so that we can be completely clear about this.”

Defence deputy secretary for security and estate Celia Perkins said the department became aware of the issue in 2018, with advice from the intelligence community suggesting they “proceed with caution” with some systems in use.

“Following some updating advice and guidance in the United States, in the United Kingdom and media reporting on that late last year, we undertook a refresh of our review,” she told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.

“We identified 41 systems on 17 sites, about half of those had been decommissioned.”

– AAP