SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT

Group 3

Program 1.6

Question No. 27

Senator Ludlam asked the following question at the hearing on 29 May 2013:

Senator LUDLAM: ... I understand that at some stage there was an interdepartmental committee within the government that was set up to look into that issue. Is that the case?

The Attorney-General's Department has admitted it had legislation drafted for a data retention scheme, changing answers it previously provided to Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam in Senate Estimates hearings.

The Federal Government must unequivocally reject mandatory telecommunications data retention in the wake of the release of the National Security Inquiry report, the Australian Greens said today.

Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the Report reinforced the overwhelming public opposition to the proposal to collect and store the telephone and email data of all Australians for two years.

The Government and Opposition colluded today to block a request for a statement by the Attorney General on implications for Australia of the PRISM surveillance scandal in the US. Labor and the Coalition combined their numbers to block the move.

The Government cannot ignore the will of "the 98.9 per cent" on data retention, the Greens warned today - referring to the thousands of people who have urged the National Security Inquiry to abandon the proposed scheme to force telecommunications companies to store the communications data of all Australians for a period of two years.

Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam will table a petition in the Senate tomorrow circulated by Pirate Party Australia and comprising 1447 signatures raising serious concerns about proposed changes to national security laws.

The signatories have presented objections to the proposals under discussion by the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security Inquiry into potential reforms of National Security Legislation (#natsecinquiry).

A move by the Australian Greens for the Government to make information about the proposed data retention scheme public has been defeated by the Government and Opposition voting in the Senate together.

Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the Labor Party and Coalition had united to "keep Australians in the dark about a proposed scheme to monitor every piece of electronic correspondence and every phone call".

Australian Greens spokesperson for communications Senator Scott Ludlam today warned against further extending the loosely defined and already over-reaching online surveillance powers of Australia's intelligence agencies.