On 24 January 2017, the Law Council provided a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department’s inquiry into Access to Telecommunications Data in Civil Proceedings.

The Law Council called for the release of a further Consultation Paper by Government that outlines a range of issues including (but not limited to) specific proposals where it considers that there might be a need to allow access to telecommunications data retained under mandatory data retention legislation; and the relevant privacy issues and risks, risk of data insecurity and unauthorised secondary use, and misuse by parties themselves to litigation.  The Law Council also called for an assessment by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on any proposals and a regulation impact statement or an independent cost benefit analysis.