In the wake of last week's recent terror attacks in London and Melbourne, the federal government has called for online companies to give security agencies freer access to platforms like WhatsApp and iMessage.

On Sunday, attorney-general George Brandis acknowledged on Sky News that civil libertarians had expressed serious concern about the government's recent moves to access encrypted messages.

But he said the public's attitudes towards privacy were changing, pointing to the so-called "Facebook generation".

"I think also community attitudes, particularly among younger people towards the concept of privacy are changing," Brandis said.

"In the Facebook generation when people put more and more of their own personal data out there, I think there is an entirely different attitude to privacy among young people then there was than perhaps a generation or two ago."



He suggested the the majority of people in Australia didn't prioritise privacy over giving security agencies more "tools" to fight terrorism.

"Let the civil liberties point of view be heard, let legitimate privacy concerns always be had regard to, but I think where the community is at at the moment is to prioritise their concern about giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies the tools they need to thwart terrorism."

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Greens senator Scott Ludlam labelled Brandis' assertions as "just so much bullshit".

"Nobody compels you to go on Facebook and share everything," Ludlam said. "Benchmarking national privacy policy on Facebook's business model does not inspire any confidence in the government's agenda."

"That's before we even get to the technical can of worms he is trying to open up."

Brandis told the Sun Herald he plans to give agencies freer access to encrypted messaging, insisting the government didn't want to force companies like Facebook and Apple to have a "back door" into its messaging platforms.