Commonwealth Data Retention Review
The Law Council of Australia provided a response to the Discussion Paper on the Commonwealth Data Retention Review by the Department of Home Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department (the Departments).
This submission is informed by input from the Law Society of New South Wales. The Law Council also acknowledges the Business Law Section’s Privacy Law Committee for its assistance in the preparation of this response. Due to time constraints, we understand that one of our Constituent Bodies, the Law Institute of Victoria, intends to provide a submission to the Departments directly.
The Law Council welcomes the Review and notes that it implements Proposal 21.6 of the Privacy Act Review Report.1 The Law Council strongly supported this proposal in its April 2023 submission to the Attorney-General’s Department to inform the Government’s response to the Report.2 Accordingly, the Law Council was pleased that the Government agreed, in principle, to Proposal 21.6 in its formal response to the Privacy Act Review Report in September 2023.3 The Review was also referenced as a key initiative in the Government’s 2023–30 Australian Cyber Security Strategy.4
The Law Council notes that the scope of the Review is limited to data retention provisions in primary and secondary Commonwealth legislation that directly place an obligation on industry. Whilst some general comments are provided in the submission below, this submission primarily focuses on draft Data Retention Principles 1 to 4 as proposed in the Discussion Paper, considered through a lens of promoting consistency and harmonisation with the existing regulatory framework in Australia, especially the Australian Privacy Principles.
1 Australian Government (Attorney-General’s Department), Privacy Act Review Report (February 2023), 227.
2 Law Council of Australia, Government response to the Privacy Act Review Report (Submission to the Attorney-General’s Department, 13 April 2023), 73.
3 Australian Government, Government Response: Privacy Act Review Report (September 2023), 9, 34.
4 Australian Government (Department of Home Affairs), 2023-30 Australian Cyber Security Strategy (November 2023), 32.
Last Updated on 17/04/2025
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