Seeing outfits like 'RSPCA (Victoria)', 'Bankstown City Council', 'Australian Postal Corporation', 'National Measurement Institute' (who ????), 'Health Care Complaints Commission (NSW)', etc etc in that list, leads me to conclude that getting warrantless metadata access is going to be very easy for almost anybody.
Could someone please remind me what were the justifications/excuses for all this metadata retention and access ? was it preventing crime ?, terror prevention ?, protecting the children ?
I recently saw a rather balanced report on ABC television about Metadata, interestingly they had a few case studies of how it was being used by various Government and NGO organisations.
Bankstown Council successfully used metadata to prosecute a rubbish dumper who had dumped a whole tipper truck filled with soil right next to a nature reserve...I believe the photo in this article is of the offence in question:
Senate considers greater oversight for companies and councils accessing metadata without warrants - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
As for the RSPCA, I believe that they are hoping to use it in a similar vein to prosecute those who abandon or neglect animals.
This is not to say I don't have concerns about government and other organisations retaining metadata, it's just that there a most definitely legitimate uses.