The ACT attorney-general has gone quiet on Canberrans' right to online privacy after his federal party indicated it would back controversial metadata retention laws, despite previously championing the cause.
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The federal Labor party agreed on Friday to support the controversial Abbott government laws, which will cost at least $400 million and allow the government to examine the communications metadata of millions of Australians.
Before the 2012 ACT election, Mr Corbell spoke in support of Canberrans' right to privacy while promising laws that would make the territory the only jurisdiction where residents could sue for invasions of that privacy.
"The protection of privacy is also an element of ACT Labor's commitment to the progressive realisation of human rights in the ACT," he said in 2012.
Mr Corbell also spoke specifically in relation to privacy on the internet. "Such a statutory cause of action may help to establish social norms as to what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, particularly in relation to the use of new technologies," he said.
But when approached regarding his response to the federal government's collection of ACT residents' communications metadata, Mr Corbell did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
University of Canberra Centre for Internet Safety director Nigel Phair said while he believed metadata retention was a necessary tool for law enforcement, it could breach citizens' privacy if not properly protected.
"Assuming that it is securely kept and encrypted and only accessed by authorised people than logically the answer should be no, [it's not a breach]," he said.
"But if some of the things start falling apart then the answer is yes. It will need really religious information security controls because as soon as there's a leak you know what the headlines will say, and rightly so."
Mr Phair said the jury was still out on whether or not mandatory metadata retention was an efficient law enforcement technique and there needed to be more discussion around how it would be managed.
"That's been one of the many problems with the debate is we really haven't heard all sides ... including the cost-benefits analysis," he said.
Shadow attorney general Jeremy Hanson said while he believed the metadata laws struck the right balance between the need to respond to national security issues and individual privacy, the ACT government had yet to take a position.
"It is important that the ACT Attorney-General clarify the ACT government's position on these laws," he said.
