David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I am going to change the subject for a moment. As you know, I am a libertarian. One of my preoccupations is regulatory overreach, and associated with that is incremental or creeping regulation. What I would like to do is seek your views on clause 187AA(2), which says:

(2) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, make a declaration modifying (including by adding, omitting or substituting) the table in subsection (1), or that table as previously modified …

Yesterday in question time you responded that the heading of an email would not be included in metadata. I have checked on that. Bearing in mind that this legislation will remain on the books long after both of us are in our dotage, what is to prevent you or a subsequent minister from bringing in a legislative instrument, such as that envisaged in clause (2), and adding the heading or, indeed, the content of an email or any other communication of a similar nature?