Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Following on from Senator Brandis's comments, let me add that the amendment would standardise the threshold for access to retain data with the threshold under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act for access to stored communications under warrant. As Senator Brandis highlighted, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security did consider this issue but did not come to a conclusion that the threshold for access should be altered in the way proposed here. But it did recommend, as it recommended in 2013, that there be a further examination of whether and how the various thresholds in the T(IA) Act might be standardised.

This goes to the point that I made in my second reading contribution—that in some respects we have the cart before the horse. Had the government proceeded with the recommendations around the T(IA) Act, our considerations here might have been facilitated. So, unfortunately, this amendment is premature without that consideration by the parliamentary joint committee. For that reason, Labor will not be supporting it.