The names of 57 agencies that are seeking to gain access to telecommunications metadata stored on Australian residents without a warrant have been released under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The names of four agencies have been redacted, with the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) previously saying that disclosing the names of these agencies would be contrary to the public interest.

The FOI request originally asked for correspondence from organisations seeking to gain access to stored telecommunications metadata. The department denied this request on practical grounds, stating that 2,661 pages spread across 288 documents were related to such a request, and that 45 third parties needed to be consulted before the information could be released.

Eventually, the request was narrowed down to merely a list of agencies looking to be declared as an enforcement agency as defined under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act.

"Agencies objected to disclosure on the basis that it would compromise the trust they place in the Commonwealth," AGD said last week. "During consultation, these four agencies clearly indicated that disclosure of this information would damage the relationship between the department and the relevant agencies, and could affect any future cooperation with the department."

The full list of agencies is as follows:

Australian Financial Security Authority Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Australian Postal Corporation Australian Taxation Office Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Civil Aviation Safety Authority Clean Energy Regulator Department of Agriculture Department of Defence Department of the Environment Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department of Health Department of Human Services Department of Social Services Fair Work Building and Construction National Measurement Institute ACT Revenue Office Access Canberra (Department of Treasury and Economic Development) Bankstown City Council Consumer Affairs - Victoria Consumer, Building and Occupational Services - Tasmania Consumer and Business Services - SA [redacted] [redacted] Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Queensland Department of Commerce - WA Department of Corrective Services - WA Department of Environment and Heritage Protection - Queensland Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources - Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning - Victoria Department of Environment Regulation - WA Department of Fisheries - WA Department of Justice and Regulation (Consumer Affairs) - Victoria Department of Justice and Regulation (Sheriff of Victoria) Department of Mines and Petroleum - WA [redacted] Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) - NSW Environment Protection Authority - SA Greyhound Racing Victoria Harness Racing New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission - NSW Legal Services Board - Victoria NSW Environment Protection Authority NSW Fair Trading Office of Environment and Heritage - NSW Office of Fair Trading - Queensland Office of State Revenue - NSW Office of State Revenue - Queensland Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner - Vic Primary Industries and Regions South Australia Queensland Building and Construction Commission Racing and Wagering Western Australia Racing NSW Racing Queensland Roads and Maritime Service NSW Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) - Victoria State Revenue Office - Victoria Taxi Services Commission - Victoria [redacted] Revenue SA Victorian WorkSafe Authority

The Australian data-retention laws allow the nation's approved law-enforcement agencies to warrantlessly access two years' worth of customers' call records, location information, IP addresses, billing information, and other data stored by telcos.

(Image: Screenshot by Chris Duckett)

Also contained within the FOI documents was a list of agencies that previously had access to telecommunications data. The list was sorted alphabetically along with redactions in place.

Access Canberra (Department of Treasury and Economic Development) ACT Revenue Office Australian Financial Security Authority [redacted] Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Australian Postal Corporation Australian Taxation Office Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Bankstown City Council [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] Civil Aviation Safety Authority Clean Energy Regulator [redacted] [redacted] Consumer and Business Services - SA Consumer, Building and Occupational Services [redacted] [redacted] Department of Agriculture Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland) Department of Commerce - WA Department of Corrective Services - WA Department of Defence Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (Fisheries) - Victoria Department of Environment and Heritage Protection - Queensland Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning - Victoria Department of Fisheries - WA Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department of Health Department of Human Services Department of Mines and Petroleum - WA [redacted] Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) - NSW Department of Social Services Department of the Environment [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] Environment Protection Authority - SA Fair Work Building and Construction Greyhound Racing Victoria Harness Racing New South Wales [redacted] Health Care Complaints Commission - NSW Legal Services Board - Victoria [redacted] National Measurement Institute NSW Environment Protection Authority NSW Fair Trading [redacted] Office of Environment and Heritage - NSW Office of Fair Trading - Queensland [redacted] Office of State Revenue - NSW Office of State Revenue - Queensland Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner - Vic [redacted] [redacted] Primary Industries and Regions South Australia Queensland Building and Construction Commission Racing and Wagering Western Australia Racing NSW Racing Queensland Roads and Maritime Service NSW [redacted] Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) - Victoria [redacted] [redacted] State Revenue Office - Victoria [redacted] [redacted] Taxi Services Commission - Victoria [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] Victorian WorkSafe Authority [redacted]

Of those listed, it appears that South Australia's Consumer and Business Services is the only agency to not reapply for access.

During 2015, 3,926 telecommunications interception warrants were issued, a 2 percent fall from the year prior, and 365,728 authorisations for the disclosure of historical telecommunications data were made by agencies.

Of the agencies and departments given access to existing information or documents to enforce a criminal law over the 12-month period, and not included on either list released by AGD, or known to be an enforcement agency already, are: the Australian Fisheries Management Authority; the Department of the Environment; SA Consumer and Business Services; Corrective Services NSW; the WA Department of Environmental Regulation; Corrections Victoria; RSPCA Queensland; RSPCA Tasmania; The Hills Shire Council; the Vic Transport Accident Commission; and Workcover NSW.

A similar request was made by privacy advocate Geordie Guy, for which the department requested a fee of AU$424 to complete the request -- a fee that Guy was able to raise through crowdfunding.

On appeal from ZDNet on its separate request, the department reduced the charges by 75 percent and said the release of such documents was in the public interest as it would provide background on how the metadata legislation is operating.