Metadata: Cost of mandatory data retention yet to be revealed with Senate expected to pass bills soon

Updated

The Government is yet to reveal the cost of setting up mandatory data retention, with the bill set to pass as early as today.

The Senate yesterday began debating contentious data retention laws in its final parliamentary hurdle before what is set to be a vote in support of the legislation.

The Coalition wants Australians' phone and internet data kept for two years and will help companies with the cost of buying and installing new equipment.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the Government had received a wide range of estimates for set-up costs during talks with the telecommunications industry.

"As to which of those within that diverse range the Government will settle upon as a reasonable estimate of the capital cost across industry and as to the percentage contribution the Government will make to that figure, those are matters currently before the Government, they are a matter of deliberation as part of the budget process," Senator Brandis said.

Greens senator Scott Ludlam said he was shocked the Government had not provided a figure.

"That is remarkable that you would bring forward a bill without knowing how much it is going to cost or how you are going to evaluate the cost," Senator Ludlam said.

"I cannot recall in my experience the Government putting forward a bill with support from the Opposition that it didn't know how much it would cost."

Greens leader Christine Milne also called on the Abbott Government to divulge how much it will pay telecommunications companies to keep records for two years.

"What is the cost? Australians deserve to know how much the Government intends to contribute to the mass surveillance of the Australian population," Senator Milne said.

"How much money are we going to put up to have this surveillance on ourselves? Surely the Parliament deserves an answer to that question."

Laws set to pass with Coalition support; more amendments expected

Labor will vote with the Coalition after the two parties agreed to several amendments, including specific protections for the phone and internet records of journalists, in a bid to protect anonymous sources and whistleblowers.

Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 Introduced to Parliament on October 30 and redrafted on the advice of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (which tabled its report on February 27). The legislation will:



Require telecommunications companies to retain customer's phone and computer metadata for 2 years

Define which types of data must be retained, such as phone numbers, length of phone calls, email addresses and the time a message was sent, but not the content of phone calls or emails and explicitly exclude internet browsing

Detail which agencies are able to access the data

Give security agencies access to the data when they can make a case that it is "reasonably necessary" to an investigation

Still require security agencies to obtain a warrant before accessing the actual content of messages or conversations

Introduce an independent oversight mechanism, allowing the Commonwealth Ombudsman access to agency records, in a bid to boost privacy protections

Give the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security oversight of the use of metadata by the AFP and ASIO

The Government is negotiating with telcos about who will pay for the new system Introduced to Parliament on October 30 and redrafted on the advice of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (which tabled its report on February 27). The legislation will:

South Australian Independent Senator Nick Xenophon is today expected to move an amendment forcing authorities to notify journalists and media organisations whenever a warrant for metadata is sought and allow them to respond.

The Greens, meanwhile, said they would oppose the legislation in the "strongest possible terms".

"This is a bill to entrench a system of passive, mass surveillance," Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam said.

"It is corrosive of the very freedoms governments are meant to protect."

Though Senator Ludlam said the legislation should be cast out and was "un-amendable", the Greens are set to move a raft of amendments, including to cut the retention time to three months and force agencies to seek a warrant in most cases.

The Greens also want to limit the access of metadata records to investigations into "serious crimes".

But Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Greens' proposals were "taking it too far", emphasising that agencies were conducting routine checks in most cases.

"The vast majority of these checks are just designed to find out who actually owns a phone — who uses it," Mr Turnbull told Radio National.

The annual cost of keeping the data has been estimated to be as much as $300 million and it is likely the taxpayer will foot some of that bill.

Topics: federal-parliament, federal-government, police, security-intelligence, defence-and-national-security, internet-technology, internet-culture, information-and-communication, australia

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