Parliament House officials have denied Chinese-linked surveillance cameras are used in the building after questions were raised by the opposition about spying vulnerabilities at the heart of government.
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It comes as Defence launches its own audit of the devices, confirming they were present on at least one site.
Defence Minister Richard Marles, speaking on Thursday morning, said it was a significant issue that had been brought to his attention and needed to be dealt with.
"We're doing an assessment of all the technology for surveillance within the defence estate and where those particular cameras are found, they're going to be removed," he told ABC radio.
The systems predated the Labor government coming into office, he said.
"That said, it's important that we go through this exercise and make sure that our facilities are completely secure."
The systems in question, which are already restricted by the UK and United States governments, are installed on at least one Australian defence site.
Liberal senator James Paterson, who was a previous chair of the powerful parliamentary security and intelligence committee, has suggested Parliament House might also have the devices.
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"I have put in a question to the department of parliamentary services, it hasn't been answered yet, I don't know whether they're in this building," he told Sky News on Thursday.
"There have been a number of vulnerabilities identified in these products in the past where remote users could gain full control of them - switch on the camera, switch on the audio, for example."
He warned that the companies, as well as other Chinese-based technology companies like Huawei, were "beholden to the Chinese Communist Party".
Senator Paterson described the revelations as a "unique risk" and comes as the Liberal senator called for the audit to be run by the Department of Home Affairs.
Mr Marles also addressed Australia's future nuclear submarines, suggesting they will be a genuine "three-way solution" with the UK and US.
He will be making a ministerial statement on Thursday about the AUKUS security pact, but the decision on the submarines' design will not be revealed until next month.
"Once an Australian flag is placed on these submarines in the future, they will be completely under Australian control and they will act in Australia's national interest," he said.
He will also recommit Australia to the controversial Pine Gap intelligence facilities operated jointly with the US, and the policy known as "full knowledge and concurrence" under which the facilities are run on Australian-soil with 50 per cent US personnel.
"These facilities also contribute to global counterterrorism efforts, verification and compliance monitoring of international arms control and disarmament agreements, as well as early warning of ballistic missile launches," he is expected to say.
