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

 

"[The] announcement starts the next chapter of the 'data retention' debate (#ozlog) which the Government should have backed away from. This is the idea that all our personal data should be stored by service providers so that every move we make can be surveilled or recalled for later data mining. It is premised on the unjustified paranoia that all Australians are potential criminal suspects."

 

"Australians are already under a phenomenal amount of government surveillance. Nearly a quarter of a million telecommunications data warrants were granted in 2010-11 according to the annual Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act report.

 

"This includes detailed locational data logged by every smartphone, every minute of the day," says Ludlam.