The Federal government announced that it would place legal demands on internet and telephone companies to keep information known as metadata, that is records on the internet and phone usage of customers that would then be available to the government.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the legislation would give national security agencies greater investigative powers, requiring telcos to keep a "limited set of data" for two years.
It would capture metadata - information about communications - but not the content. He stressed access to content would require a warrant.
But what is metadata and should we be concerned about the new laws?
What exactly is metadata?
The government describes metadata as information that includes the origin and destination phone numbers, the billing name and address of both parties, time and duration of the correspondence, and the telecommunications tower used.
Metadata also includes the internet protocol addresses of computers from which messages are received or sent, logs of visitors to chat rooms online, the start and finish times of internet sessions and the location of an individual involved in communications.
Technology journalist with online and business magazine ZDNet Josh Taylor says the definition of metadata depends on who you ask.
"At the base of it is the information about communications. At the basic level you're looking at with a phonecall, who you're calling, what numbers at both ends, the time of the call and the location of the call," he said.
"For emails it's the same sort of thing. You might also get the subject head of the email, but when you move into the online world, that can mean a whole lot of other things."
SBS reporter Peggy Giakoumelos spoke with Josh Taylor.
It is expected that the new measures will require calls, texts and emails to be stored, but the Prime Minister's office says browser history isn't metadata and there'll be no need for that to be stored.
Technology journalist Josh Taylor says a number of government agencies currently have access to metadata.
These include ASIO, the Australian Federal Police and local councils amongst others who can access metadata without a warrant.
Why is government wanting to change laws now?
Josh Taylor says the current laws are technology specific and have not kept up to date with changes in technology that have occurred as well as unlimited data usage plans now commonly available with many phone providers.
He also says that a lot of people are no longer just using the phone to communicate. Instead things like Skype, Google chat and a whole range of other programs are now being used to communicate, making surveillance a challenge.
But he sees any proposed increase in metadata surveillance as a massive breach of privacy, that raises a lot of unanswered questions.
"What the government is getting is they're collecting a massive haystack of people's information just to get a needle. We don't know what security measures are going to be in place, how secure the data is going to be, so there could be a data breach and you wouldn't know about it. Your details could end up anywhere."
Mr Turnbull said the government recognised that data retention raised genuine concerns about privacy.
But the powers under the legislation were not new - it would simply ensure that data would continue to be available to security agencies as part of "legitimate" investigations.
A person's web browsing history would not be captured, nor would service providers be allowed to keep detailed records tracking a person's movements.
Mr Turnbull said the powers were needed because of the terrorism threat level.
"No responsible government can sit by while those who protect our community lose access to the tools they need to do their job," he said.
"In the current threat environment, we cannot let this problem become worse."
The government will release the draft data set and refer it with the legislation to the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security for review and inquiry.
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