Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I am glad the minister made those last comments in clarifying that this is a new scheme for dealing with that proscriptive, prospective data—a new scheme for access to prospective data, information and documents for ASIO and for law enforcement agencies. It is a new scheme in that regard and I understand, and I think most of us understand, that there is an element here of trying to establish some kind of privacy right or regime.

The Democrats put on record that one of the problems here, in terms of both what exists now in the act and what we are talking about in this new scheme for access to prospective data, is the reluctance, inability or unwillingness—and I have heard the arguments—of the government to define the scope or define telecommunications data. I understand that this is partly because it is considered that the technology is innovative and hard to keep up with and therefore we cannot readily or easily define telecommunications data. I have some sympathy for that and I understand that particular reason, but it makes some of this law-making a little difficult. I think some of these issues might be resolved if the Attorney-General and the government were more willing to come up with a definition of telecommunications data. I do not want to open up that debate, because I know it is an ongoing one and we have all read reviews and have had this debate before.