The Investigator’s Handbook: Australia Edition

What the Australia edition covers

1. Australia 1. Domestic legal process: who can ask for what, and how

   This chapter shows an investigator working in Australia which law governs each kind of request to a telephone or internet provider, who is allowed to sign it, how long it lasts, and what to do instead if you are a private investigator or journalist. Commonwealth law sets the rules for telecommunications data, stored communications and preservation for every Australian police force. Search warrants, device-assistance orders and bank production powers differ between the Commonwealth, the six States and the two self-governing Territories.

   Sections in this chapter

   • What was read, and which version
   • The map: one national telecommunications law, many warrant laws
   • Who may ask, and who may not
   • Preservation: freezing a carrier’s stored communications
   • Telecommunications data: subscriber, IP and call records
   • Content: stored communications warrants
   • Search warrants and compulsory production beyond the TIA Act
   • Emergency requests
   • Time limits, notice and secrecy at a glance
   • Interception: awareness only
   • If you are a foreign investigator
   • Making the records usable as evidence
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

2. Australia 2. Internet and telecom providers: finding who holds the records

   This chapter shows how to work out which Australian company handles an IP address, a phone number or a domain name, what records that company must keep and for how long, and how to use the Ministry’s Australian provider directory and the official registers to address your request correctly. The legal powers for the request are in Chapter 1 of this edition; the global method for IP addresses and numbers is in Chapter 5 of the shared chapters.

   Sections in this chapter

   • Who regulates, and what each body tells you
   • How to identify the provider
   • What providers must keep
   • Using the Ministry’s Australian provider directory
   • Overseas platforms with an Australian presence
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

3. Australia 3. Banks, wallets and national reporting: money and complaints

   This chapter explains where a scam or cybercrime loss is reported in Australia, which mechanisms can stop or recover money in the first hours and which cannot, what the official rules say a bank must do and by when, and how a complaint moves from the bank to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. It also covers the Scams Prevention Framework, which is law but, on the dates in the official sources, not yet in force for most of its obligations.

   Sections in this chapter

   • National reporting: who receives what
   • Freezing or holding funds quickly
   • The regulator and complaint ladder
   • The Scams Prevention Framework
   • AUSTRAC and the financial intelligence route
   • Wallets, payment systems and our pages
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

4. Australia 4. Cross-border: treaties, platform routes and what Australian authorities can send out

   This chapter sets out Australia’s treaty position, the central authority and procedure for incoming and outgoing mutual assistance, the Australia-United States data access agreement and the international production orders that implement it, and the police channels that sit alongside formal requests. It ends with a decision flow for a foreign agency that wants records held by an Australian provider or bank, and for an Australian agency that wants records held abroad. The global method, the platform-by-platform routes and the master comparison table are in Chapters 1, 2 and 4 of the shared chapters.

   Sections in this chapter

   • Australia’s treaty and agreement position
   • Incoming requests: how a foreign agency gets Australian records
   • Outgoing requests: what Australian authorities can send abroad
   • The Australia-US agreement and international production orders
   • Australian requests to the major US platforms
   • Police and other channels (awareness)
   • Decision flow
   • Checklist

5. Australia 5. Templates, contacts and quick reference

   This chapter lists the national bodies an investigator in Australia deals with, gives ready-to-adapt outlines for a preservation notice, a telecommunications data authorisation, a stored communications warrant application and an emergency request, adds two outlines for foreign agencies, and ends with a one-page table of who to call first for six common case types. Each template names the section of Australian law it rests on so you can check it against the text read in Chapter 1.

   Sections in this chapter

   • National agencies and contacts
   • Template 1: Domestic preservation notice to a carrier
   • Template 2: Telecommunications data authorisation and cover request
   • Template 3: Outline of a stored communications warrant application
   • Template 4: Emergency request to an Australian provider
   • Template 5 (foreign agencies): requests to the AFP and the Central Authority
   • Who do I call first? Quick reference by case type
   • Checklist

Every edition also includes the global reference: how data requests work, the seven big platforms, the 116-service directory, country routes, cryptocurrency, evidence handling, templates and a glossary. See the full contents or try the free First 24 Hours checklist.

Related directories for Australia

• Australia ISP and telecom directory
• Bank fraud help in Australia
• How police in Australia request data from platforms
• Cybercrime agencies in Australia
• Law-enforcement request hub (LERS)

Questions