(Transcript from World News Radio)
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is pressing Labor to quickly pass new data retention laws, which are now expected to cost up to $400 million a year.
Mr Abbott has announced the cost just days before he delivers a major national security speech to parliament, saying it represents just one per cent of the $40 billion telecommunications sector.
But the laws are facing opposition from some on the Senate crossbench and Labor is also refusing to guarantee its support.
Amanda Cavill reports.
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The legislation, introduced last October but yet to pass either house of parliament, mandates telecommunications companies keep metadata for two years.
Metadata is essentially the data about the data.
It's the information collected from devices, including phone numbers used, how long people talked to each other, the e-mail address from which a message was sent and the time the message was sent.
It's not the content of email or text messages or phone conversations.
Metadata is used by police and intelligence agencies to investigate such crimes as terrorism and child sexual abuse networks.
Mr Abbott is warning there will be an explosion of unsolved crime without the changes.
"These data retention laws are vital for our safety. It's not just when it comes to terrorist crime. It's when it comes to the whole range of crime that we need these data retention laws. There are very few serious crimes that do not require an investigation and analysis of telecommunications data in their resolution. And without this metadata retention legislation, our police and intelligence agencies will be quite literally flying blind."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says there's no guarantee that Labor will support the bill unless there's more detail about just how metadata retention will benefit law enforcement.
He says a security briefing given to the Opposition in January failed to cover the role metadata and related telecommunications information played in the Sydney cafe siege.
In parliament last week, Mr Abbott sought to link Labor's immigration laws with the arrival of two terrorism suspects arrested last Tuesday.
Mr Shorten says the Opposition supports quick consideration of the data retention laws, once a parliamentary committee has finished its investigation of the bill.
But he says the bill must consider the rights of individuals, privacy principles, the potential extra cost of internet services and protect journalists and whistleblowers.
Bill Shorten says the cost figure is an important step forward but more detail is still needed.
"I think the Government will need to explain how it gets paid for. It's a big amount of money. On the other hand, the price of national security is incalculable. But I do think we will have to have an intelligent, cogent, sensible discussion about how it gets paid for, rather than rushing it through and not thinking about the consequences until after the event. It is a big cost. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be paid but the Government needs to calmly, sensibly, without any shouting or shrieking, work these issues through with the Parliament and people of Australia."
Labor is expected to bring forward amendments to the legislation, but has backed two previous tranches of counter-terrorism laws.
Independent Senator David Leyonhjelm has voiced his opposition to the proposed new data retention laws.
Senator Leyonhjelm has told the ABC he doesn't accept the Prime Minister's arguments for the new measures.
"It's going to be ridiculously expensive. There's a potential for misuse of the data and then there's the libertarian principle. We should be watching the government, the government shouldn't be watching us."
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the government should scrap the bill, as there is no evidence that mandatory data retention reduces crime or improves public safety.
A parliamentary committee is due to report on the bill on February the 27th.
Mr Abbott says he wants the data retention laws passed by March the 19th.
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