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

I will tell you why I am bringing up Professor Triggs, Senator Ludlam—because Professor Triggs was a witness before the second PJCIS hearing and she, in fact, addressed herself to this very issue. This is what Professor Triggs thought—from a human rights point of view, speaking as the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission—about this bill. It is summarised in paragraph 2.148 of the committee's report. It says:

Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, drew a distinction between the magnitude of the privacy intrusion associated with access to telecommunications data by law enforcement and national security agencies, which she characterised as ‘powerful’, compared to the mandatory collection and retention of telecommunications data by a third-party service provider, which she characterised as ‘small’.

This legislation creates a collection and retention obligation, which in the view of the sainted Professor Gillian Triggs has small—small; her word, not mine—human rights implications.