Australian phones 26-times more likely to be bugged than an American phone

Friday, 13 January 2006

NSWCCL media release: 1/2006

Recently released figures show that telephone wiretapping by government agencies in Australia (including the police) continues to grow. Not only does Australia issue 75% more telecommunications interception warrants than the US, but per capita Australia issues 26 times more warrants than the US. In Australia non-judges issue 76% of all warrants, whereas in the US only judges can issue warrants.

In the twelve months 2003/2004 there were 3028 warrants issued in Australia. In the twelve months of 2004, US courts issued 1710 warrants. Adjusting for population, Australia intercepts telephone communications 26 times more per capita than the United States.

Worryingly, the numbers are way up on figures only two years ago. In 2001 there were more than 2150 warrants issued in Australia, compared with only 1490 warrants issued in the United States of America. Australia intercepted telephone communications 20 times more per capita than the United States.

In Australia it is illegal to intercept telecommunications without a warrant. However, these warrants can be issued by people other than judges. Members of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘AAT’) who have been lawyers for more than five years can be nominated (by the government) to issue warrants. In the reporting year 2003/2004, the vast majority of warrants (76%) were not issued by judges, but by members of the AAT.

AAT members do not have tenure, are appointed by the government and work on contract. This means that AAT members are more likely to do the government’s bidding than a judge, which explains why most warrants are issued by non-judges.

This represents a massive invasion of privacy. There is no reason why Australians need to be 26 times more likely to have the government listening in to their telephone conversations than Americans. The whole system needs to be overhauled.

For more information contact:
Cameron Murphy, NSWCCL President, 0411 769 769.

sources:
* AG’s Department, Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979: Report for the year ending 30 June 2004 (March 2005), http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/agdhome.nsf/Page/RWP3BD452E345D42468CA256FD5001672B8.
* Administrative Office of the US Courts, 2004 Wiretap Report (April 2005), http://www.uscourts.gov/wiretap04/contents.html.
* Cynthia Banham, ‘Rampant phone tapping puts US in the shade’, Sydney Morning Herald (16 September 2002), http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/16/1032054714938.html.