The Abbott Government says its proposed metadata retention laws are critical to fighting crime and terrorism.

But similar schemes in Europe have been wound back following legal challenges.

This week the District Court of The Hague scrapped the Netherlands’ data retention law, finding that it violated fundamental European Union privacy rights.

The country’s government-funded privacy watchdog says there’s no evidence that data retention has been helpful for law enforcement.

Guests: Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority

Credits: Reporter, Tim Roxburgh