it seems that the Health Dept #covidsafe FAQ contains some inaccuracies, or at least some things that could be easily misinterpreted.

Many journalists have made the claim that the app only records "close contacts", meaning within 1.5m for 15 mins. This is false.

A close reading of https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/04/covidsafe-app-faqs-coronavirus-contact-app-covidsafe-faqs.pdf shows this is not the case, but you need to read the thing in its entirety to understand this.

For instance, 'How does the app know a “close contact” has occurred?' says 'The proximity for a close contact is approximately 1.5 metres, for a period of 15 minutes or
more. '

But, it also says… 'The app records the encrypted reference code, time and proximity of two users,

through the strength of the Bluetooth signals. This allows the approximate distance between the users and the duration the contact occurred to be determined once the data is uploaded to the highly secure information storage system. '

so, "the app" being the thing on your phone doesn't know what a "close contact" is at all, it records all interactions and uploads them to the central DB. Someone? then post-filters the data to give to the state and territory health officials.

This allows the definition of a "close contact" to be changed later if required. It also means the data-trove contains far more private info than most journalists describe. It is a significant distinction from a privacy perspective.

decompiled source code for Android: https://github.com/ghuntley/COVIDSafe_1.0.11.apk/

ongoing documentation of source analysis by @GeoffreyHuntley et al: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17GuApb1fG3Bn0_DVgDQgrtnd_QO3foBl7NVb8vaWeKc/preview#

good thread on first impressions of decompiled app: https://twitter.com/matthewrdev/status/1254336105203200000?s=20