Mandatory data retention legislation that costs over $300 million dollars to implement, and around 15 cents a day to circumvent, was due to come into effect today, but most Internet Service Providers have not received a response from the Attorney-General's Department about the plans they were required to submit, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Communications Spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia-Co-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (19:06): I move the second reading amendment standing in my name:

At the end of the motion, add:

but further consideration of this bill be made an order of the day for the first sitting day after the Government has tabled the Privacy Impact Assessment conducted by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

The Australian Greens have secured a Senate Inquiry into the Australian video games development industry.

The Senate supported the inquiry call, moved by Australian Greens deputy leader and communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

"Five years ago, Australia had a burgeoning video game development sector employing thousands of talented people in this rapidly growing industry.

"Internationally, companies have experienced strong growth thanks to smart government support and favourable regulatory settings.

The Australian Greens have warned against the Government's rush to legislate an online site-blocking scheme and today called on the Labor Party to delay a final vote on the bill when it comes before the Senate next week.

"The Government has proceeded with a punitive site blocking regime and completely ignored more practical options for copyright reform that have been on the table for years, Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens communications spokesperson said today.

The Government and ‘Opposition' today used their combined numbers to vote down a senate motion acknowledging a key US legal finding that mass-collection of telecommunications records was unlawful.

The motion was moved by Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

"This motion called on the Senate, which just months ago passed a data retention scheme, to acknowledge the reality that the US Court of Appeals has ruled the bulk collection of telecommunications metadata by US Government agencies to be unlawful," Senator Ludlam said today.

The Australian Greens will oppose the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015, releasing a dissenting report as part of the Senate Inquiry into the bill.

The dissenting report, outlining serious concerns with the bill, was prepared by Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on communications.

The full report is available here.

More than two years after corporate regulator ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 web addresses using a poorly-understood provision of the Telecommunications Act, a House of Representatives inquiry has recommended that at some point someone should get around to writing some internal guidelines.