The AustCyber document was based on a survey it sponsored which was carried out by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. ASPI is partly funded by the government but also receives funding from a number of big players in the defence industry. The poll sought the views of 512 industry players, but only 63 responded. The document was released on 20 December and therefore did not attract any coverage. CommsWire asked CA's chief John Stanton, who has been a strong advocate for the telecommunications industry on the issue, for comment. The encryption law was passed on 6 December without any amendments to the version submitted to Parliament on 20 September. Some 50 pages of amendments were handed out to the various parties early on 6 December before debate on the bill began. But it was finally passed without amendments as the House of Representatives had already risen for the year by the time the amendments were taken up in the Senate. Labor leader Bill Shorten agreed to this compromise on the proviso that the amendments would be passed during the first sitting of 2019. The government has said it would consider the amendments, but has made no commitment that it would accept all of them. Stanton described the document put together by AustCyber as "an attempt to be helpful", adding that it illustrated the ways in which the Department of Home Affairs sought to perpetuate "a number of myths about the nature of the legislation and the ways in which it can be used".
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