But Cambridge Analytica's chances of making inroads into Australian politics may have been dealt a blow following a new joint investigation by The New York Times and The Observer in Britain, which detailed how the firm inappropriately acquired Facebook data from researcher Alexandr Kogan, who had collected the information from some 270,000 users of his app for supposedly academic purposes. Labor senator Kristina Keneally described the firm's activities as "the dark arts of secretly mining and manipulating our citizens' personal data" and said it should not be involved in Australian politics. "Shady operators like this undermine public debate and weaken our democracy," Senator Keneally told Fairfax Media, demanding the Liberal Party explain if it has any association with Cambridge Analytica. "The Liberals should be upfront with the Australian people. What is the extent of the Liberal Party's involvement with Cambridge Analytica? What work has this company already done with the Liberals in Australia? What future plans do they have?" A spokesman for the Liberal Party's federal secretariat immediately hit back, saying: "We are not using Cambridge Analytica."

The spokesman said that, if Senator Keneally was "really concerned about integrity in politics" and avoiding "shady operators", she and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would immediately sever ties with the CFMEU and stop taking donations from the union. Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix. Credit:Joshua Bright The use of data mining and micro-targeting for commercial, political and government purposes has exploded over the last decade. Big data is now a byproduct of much consumer and lifestyle behaviour, with people regularly volunteering personal information that ends up being collected by data brokers and marketers. The Trump campaign directed millions of dollars to Cambridge Analytica, which was reportedly established with investment from conservative hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer and boasted influential right-wing nationalist and former White House adviser Stephen Bannon on its board. Fairfax Media has been told that, in October 2017, the Labor national secretary Noah Carroll told a meeting of opposition staff that the firm was establishing itself in Australia but ruled out involvement because of its values, connections and record.

"They are involved in some dark and dangerous shit, we are going nowhere near them," one Labor source said. Fairfax Media also understands Labor is satisfied with its current ability to mount digital campaigns and doesn't see a need for the services of Cambridge Analytica. Similarly, a Liberal source said the party had been turned off by the firm's reputation stemming from its activities in the US. Loading The Liberals in South Australia adopted another US-based micro-targeting service – i360, backed by US businessmen and conservative political donors Charles and David Koch – in their successful state election campaign. The tool is said to have been critical to their victory. The Victorian Liberals are also using the platform ahead of the state election later this year.

Privacy laws in Australia are stricter than in the United States. In a December 2016 interview with Fairfax Media, Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix said that American data rules were "permissive". Attorney-General Christian Porter said that, while politicians and political parties are exempt from privacy laws to support electoral processes and political debate, almost all businesses are not permitted to use consumer data for those purposes. "The exemption does not authorise entities who are subject to the Privacy Act to disclose personal information that will be used by politicians or registered political parties for political purposes," Mr Porter told Fairfax Media on Monday. He recommended people contact Australia's privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, if they are concerned about possible breaches of the legislation. Following the latest revelations, Facebook's vice-president and deputy general counsel Paul Grewal said in a statement: "We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold [Cambridge Analytica] responsible and accountable for any unlawful behaviour."