If you haven’t done anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear, is the message being pumped out by the federal government to sell its proposed changes to national security laws. The changes will see ‘‘metadata’’ kept by internet and telephone companies for two years, for access by intelligence agencies and police. It's just the writing on the outside of the envelope, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has assured the public. But I wonder how his NSW Liberal colleagues are feeling about ‘‘metadata’’ right now, as they complain about innocent communications being potentially misconstrued by the ICAC. ICAC investigators have been trawling through metadata by the bucketload, and continue to strike gold.

While the commission has the power to seek a telecommunications intercept warrant to secretly listen-in to conversations, or trawl the content of emails, or even seize a computer, its major investigative tool appears to be metadata. Last year only four surveillance devices warrants were issued by judges to ICAC investigators, according to the ombudsman. It is yet to be seen if there was a leap in secret recordings in 2014. An ICAC spokeswoman said: ‘‘The commission is able to obtain metadata without a warrant. It has no further comment to make.’’ The former national security monitor, Bret Walker, SC, believes agencies should require a warrant to access metadata, to allay the public’s privacy concerns. As operations Spicer and Credo progress, it is apparent metadata has led to some messy endings.

Case in point: Metadata revealed Premier Barry O’Farrell made a 28-second call from his mobile phone to a Nicholas Di Girolamo on April 20, 2011, just four weeks after winning office. This is the man who gave him the bottle of Grange. The bottle that O’Farrell couldn’t remember. The ICAC presented O’Farrell with the metadata, and asked him to explain. ‘‘This is the call at 9.30 at night on [April] 20 which could have been the day of the delivery and it's a call from you to DiGirolamo,’’ Counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson, told O’Farrell. The metadata also showed that O’Farrell was at home when he made the call. ‘‘I don’t know about this phone call duration of 28 seconds, but what I do know is if I had received a bottle of 1959 Penfolds Grange I would have known about it, and I did not,’’ said O’Farrell fatefully.

The next day a card hand-written by O’Farrell, thanking DiGirolamo for the wine, was tendered as evidence. O’Farrell’s political career was over. Yes, Mr Abbott, it was the content of the envelope that sealed his fate. But it was metadata that set him up. In the current phase of the investigation, the ICAC is alleging a scheme of soliciting political donations from banned property developers in exchange for favours, involving former Energy Minister Chris Hartcher and former Police Minister Mike GallacherBillionaire Nathan Tinkler donated large amounts via his companies, including $18,000 on 13 December 2010 that allegedly ended up in Londonderry MP Bart Bassett’s campaign. What does the ICACs metadata show? On December 14, 2010, Darren Williams, an executive of Tinkler’s company Buildev, stood in Martin Place, just a hop away from NSW Parliament, and called Hartcher’s office at 8.45am. Williams spoke for seven minutes.

But Hartcher was in his electorate of Terrigal, and he returned Williams call on his mobile eight minutes later, leaving a 32-second message. Thirty minutes later, Hartcher sent a text to Gallacher and Bassett, within 10 seconds of each other. That evening, at 5.50pm, Hartcher appeared to leave two voice mail messages for Williams, and then texted Gallacher again. Hartcher and Williams exchange texts. Thirty minutes later, Hartcher texted Gallacher and Bassett. Metadata doesn’t reveal what the men were discussing, but they have been called before the ICAC to explain. Harmless?