There are fears Australia’s national secrets may end up in China’s hands following the extension of a data storage contract.

Chinese-owned Global Switch has been awarded a contract extension worth $53.5 million by the Australian Defence Department, to store confidential documents at a site in Ultimo until 2025.

Independent MP for Kennedy Bob Katter hit out at Defence for “completely ignoring” the Prime Minister’s directive to purge Global Switch from contracts back in 2016.

“[A] firewall is just a joke to the Chinese.

“The incompetence of some of the Army personnel during peacetime staggers me.”

Mr Katter will move a motion to terminate the deal, and all others involving foreign-owned external data storage, which he believes will gain broad support from the Opposition and crossbenchers.

“I don’t think that some of the backbenchers in the … Liberal Party are going to sit comfortably with this at all.”

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