Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Lambie. Again, I understand that this has been reported in the media. I just want to be cautious about accepting that that is absolutely correct. But, if it is correct, as I say, that is of real concern to us. I've already made clear that our government expects telecommunications providers to cooperate with police investigations, to supply whatever data they have available to them to assist with that and to follow the law in terms of what they charge for that. Under the Telecommunications Act, telecommunications providers are required to provide assistance to the Commonwealth, states and territories, and they are required to provide such help as is reasonably necessary for certain purposes, which includes enforcing the criminal law. As I've explained, under the act providers must comply with that requirement on the basis that they neither profit from nor bear the costs of assisting those investigations. We expect the law to be upheld. We expect telecommunications providers to comply with the law.