Seriously. It’s not a good week for George Brandis. At all. Not only has our Attorney-General been politically cut off at the knees by his own party when the reforms to the Racial Discrimination Act he championed so fervently were dumped sight unseen by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, but he seems to be having a hell of a time wrapping his head around another key piece of proposed legislation – that of the mandatory retention of metadata.
The new law – announced via an “in principle agreement” by the Government – would see telecommunications companies forced to retain data on your phone usage, as well as your internet usage. But with the internet being referred to with broad strokes, questions have been raised over what activity will be retained and what won’t.
Appearing on Sky News, Senator Brandis was pushed for clarification. He then proceeded to stumble spectacularly through the entire 8 and a half minute interview, answering in circles and contradicting himself repeatedly to the point where not only was the issue not clarified, but it became readily apparent that Brandis himself doesn’t seem to clearly understand what metadata is at all.
I know that live TV interviews are highly pressurised situations and even the most tenured politician is prone to the occasional off-day on camera. But to be unable to even give a clear, basic definition of what is metadata and what isn’t really displays the worrying implications of having technological security legislation in the hands of those who don’t fully understand what they’re dealing with.
Worse still, it’s hard to get even a bare understanding of what exactly that data will be used for. “Counter-terrorism” is about as broad a paintbrush as you can use, and the hastily strung hammock of “oh, also… regular crime” certainly doesn’t go very far towards appeasing worry (seriously, citing the Jill Meagher case? Oof.)
If nothing else, the interview will probably rank highly in all-time great political interview meltdowns. Sure, it ain’t no “John Hewson trying to explain the price of a cake,” but it’s definitely in the same ballpark.
The legislation is being pushed through by the end of the year. You’d hope by then Senator Brandis will have been able to find the time to do a little light reading.
Photo: Sergio Dionisio via Getty Images.
