"The views the Australian government will be taking most seriously are the views of our own intelligence community and policing agencies, and their advice to government … is unambiguous and it is emphatic." Senator Brandis also dismissed others who have raised concerns about the regime, saying that there was "a lot of special pleading going on here by people who don't want to see this reform". "But the ... Abbott government and I as the Attorney-General, are absolutely determined to do what we need to do to keep Australians safe…," Senator Brandis said. Overseas examples of how data retention had been proven ineffective were then put to Senator Brandis by Friday's 7.30 host Steve Cannane. In one example, Senator Brandis was told that the Dutch Data Protection Authority said this week that in the 4.5 years of having data retention in place, law-enforcement authorities there had not been able to demonstrate why they needed it. In another example, before the laws were ruled to be unconstitutional, a Germany parliamentary study found that crime clearance rates due to data retention increased by just 0.006 per cent.

And in Denmark, Mr Cannane told Senator Brandis that a Ministry of Justice report found that five years of data retention had proven to be almost of no use to the police. "Where is the hard evidence that data retention helps reduce crime and fights terrorism?" Cannane asked. But Senator Brandis was having none of it, instead asking the Australian public to trust him and Australian agencies. "There are a variety of views about this, but I can assure you … that the overwhelming view of the policing and law-enforcement authorities is that this [metadata] is an essential tool in relation to crime, in relation to particularly ugly crimes like paedophilia," Senator Brandis said. "Data retention was an essential tool in a major Europol paedophile investigation the year before last and in tracking down and breaking down terrorist networks," Senator Brandis added, before quoting former ASIO director-general David Irvine, who, shortly before he retired last year, described the capacity of intelligence agencies to access metadata as "absolutely crucial". "Now any responsible government is going to take the advice of its policing authorities, is going to take the advice of its national security authorities [seriously]," Senator Brandis said.

Loopholes It was also pointed out by the 7.30 host that in a recent Senate inquiry, Attorney-General's Department officials acknowledged that data retention could be circumvented just by using offshore-based email providers like Gmail, or by using public Wi-Fi and overseas messaging apps. "Doesn't that mean there are lot of loopholes in this legislation?" Mr Cannane asked. "Well our job is to have a suite of measures in place which will be as effective as possible in identifying and breaking down terrorism networks and it is absolutely no answer to that proposition that it may be possible in some circumstances that measures can be avoided," Senator Brandis said. Senator Brandis said he expected bipartisan support from Labor in supporting the passage of the Data Retention Bill in order "to do what is necessary to fill that gaping hole in our intelligence and policing capability".

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated he wants the bill passed by March 26, and recently revealed that the scheme would cost about $400 million to set up. There has been no word on how much money the Abbott government will reimburse of the industry's costs, although Fairfax Media has been told a 50-50 cost-sharing arrangement is being contemplated. But whether there remains bipartisan support between the Coalition and Labor on national security remains unclear, with Fairfax revealing on Monday that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told the Prime Minister he was disappointed with the way the Abbott government had sought to politicise debate about national security and data retention legislation. Senator Brandis' comments on 7.30 came as a police insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity told ABC Radio National's Download This Show program on Thursday afternoon that Australian people were "being sleep walked into a system the attorney general cannot even articulate". "Right now it would be so easy for me to slip my ex-girlfriend's number in the current process under any investigation," the insider said. "No one would pick it up because there is no detail." Phone call data retained under the scheme would include who you have called, who has called you, the start and finish time of the call, and the duration – but not the content. The IP address allocated to your internet connection would also be stored so that agencies can trace those who breach laws.