Very clever
Not enough people spoke out against the metadata retention laws, because of the claim that they would only be used to stop terrorists and child abusers, and now everyone is stuck with them, with neither party likely to change them for fear that the other side will say they are "wanting to make life easy for the terrorists". I was against them and I guess you probably were too Sbaker, but as you say, we got them anyway. (The Greens opposed them, but apparently they are a bunch of filthy commie so-and-so's
that noone likes around here).
With the proliferation of free wifi around the country like in Melbourne CBD, trains, buses, McDonalds and shopping centers, the value of metadata related to Internet browsing will soon be dininished.
With the proliferation of free wifi around the country, the value of metadata will be greatly increased - your uniquely identifiable device logged on at certain WiFi access points, showing where you were, when you were there, what you looked up, how long you stayed and even where you moved around in certain situations. That's what they are wanting to store (among many other things).