Mandatory Data Retention

Under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015, all Australian telecommunications providers must retain telecommunications data for two years.

Journalists are promised greater protection from having their data accessed, but in practice this protection will be enforced by a Government-appointed "public interest advocate" to argue that non-disclosure in in the public interest. However, this advocate is unable to inform the journalist for whom they are advocating that their metadata is the subject of investigation.

Similar data retention laws in other countries have been rejected, or passed and subsequently repealed or challenged due to the laws being declared unconstitutional. The policy also leaves data open to exposure through either either targeted misuse or incompetence.