Today the Australian government introduced its much anticipated bill to amend telecommunications laws to require providers of certain communications services to retain so-called “metadata” about the communications they carry. The government clearly anticipates that the proposals will be controversial – the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the bill includes a detailed “Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights” of 144 paragraphs. Amongst other things, the statement considers whether the bill satisfies the criteria identified by the Court of Justice of the European Union in its decision of April 2014 as necessary for a data retention scheme to be compatible with human rights norms.