Government and Opposition reach agreement on encrypted messages law

It is expected that laws giving law enforcement greater access to encrypted messages on services like Whatsapp will pass this week in Parliament.

It comes after the Government highlighted that 95% of those being monitored by domestic espionage agencies were using encrypted messaging services.

The Coalition Government and Federal Labor Opposition have been negotiating the finer points of the policy over the last few weeks, but have seemingly come to a general agreement.

Initially, Labor wanted the powers limited to use for investigating serious offences like child sex trafficking and terrorism. Since then, Attorney-General Christian Porter has said that Labor has conceded to allow the powers to be used to investigate the trade of illicit substances and firearms as well.

Labor had also expressed fears that the powers were applied too broadly and wanted them only to be accessible to federal law enforcement agencies, excluding state police.

Mr Porter said that Laborā€™s initial proposal was too narrow in its scope and that it would have entrenched ā€œa very slow processā€. He added that he was please the legislation finally appeared that it would pass with an adequate amount of strength behind it.

He went on to say that the timing of the legislation was important as officers had reminded the Government that ā€œChristmas is a very difficult time for law enforcementā€.

Mr Porterā€™s Opposition counterpart, Mark Dreyfus, said that while the bill was ā€œfar from perfectā€ that significant changes had been made to increase accountability and oversight.

He said that the compromise reached with the Government would ensure that law enforcement agencies had ā€œthe powers they say they need over the Christmas periodā€.

The Government has urged Labor to accept the new legislation following the Bourke Street attack that took place in Melbourne last month.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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