EFA welcomes the Labor Party’s decision to adopt an amendment to its platform that calls for a review of the data retention legislation passed in March this year.
As a long-standing opponent of mandatory data retention, EFA remains committed to rolling-back the worst aspects of this legislation, including the unjustifiably long retention period of two years and the routine collection of mobile phone location data. EFA is also committed to extending the warrant requirement for data access to cover the entire population.
EFA Chair David Cake said today, “It’s reassuring to see that within the wider ALP there remains an understanding of the importance of meaningful protections for individual privacy, and for the protection of whistle-blowers and other journalists’ sources. It’s unfortunate however that the party leadership chose to allow this badly flawed legislation to pass the parliament despite these concerns. EFA looks forward to the opportunity to participate in a review of this legislation, should the ALP form government after the next election.”