George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I would have hoped you might be rejoicing, libertarian as you are, that the number of agencies and entities which would access the metadata has been reduced from 85 to 21. That is a reduction by more than three-quarters. At the moment, as a result of this legislation, only the core law enforcement agencies—and the two main economic regulators, I will acknowledge—will have access. I think you need to be realistic, Senator Leyonhjelm. Police forces, but particularly the economic regulatory agencies, are resource constrained. They make judgements about the allocation of their own resources. I for many years used to act for the ACCC on a regular basis. I know them very well and I know that the enforcement committee, as it used to be called, makes judgements about which particular matters to pursue and which particular matters to let go. Those are a function, of course, of the severity and unlawfulness of the conduct involved, but they are also a function of the available resources. You would not expect, as a matter of common sense, an economic regulator to devote limited resources in the pursuit of trivial matters. I think it is that practical common-sense consideration, rather than any statutory guarantees, which should put your mind at ease.