Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to withdraw because the last thing I want to do is bring about needless contention in this chamber. I was simply referring to the advice I have from the Australian Federal Police that metadata was used in 100 per cent of cybercrime investigations. That seemed to promote tittering and yahooing from members opposite. I went on to say that nine out of 10 counterterrorism investigations and nine out of 10 child abuse investigations—and something was happening on the other side of the chamber.

In a recent European investigation into a big paedophile ring, the UK was able to convict 121 offenders using metadata. In contrast, the Germans, who have no metadata retention regime, could not convict a single perpetrator. Because changing business practices mean that the telecommunications providers are keeping less and less metadata for shorter and shorter times, it is important that we pass the legislation that is currently before the parliament. It is very important that we pass this legislation to ensure that telecommunications providers keep metadata records for up to two years.

I thank the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security, particularly the member for Wannon, for the good work, and I acknowledge the good work of the Attorney-General and the Minister for Communications. This is important legislation. It is a serious subject and the legislation needs to be passed— (Time expired)

See this speech in context