Official: national card due by 2010
By Louise Dodson and Stephanie Peatling
April 27, 2006

AUSTRALIANS will need a photo identity card within four
years to receive Medicare and welfare payments but will not be forced
to carry it at all times.
The new "smart card" will contain "enhanced security" and replace 17
existing cards for Medicare benefits, family tax, child-care and
unemployment payments, pensions, Austudy and pharmaceutical and
transport concessions.
People will be able to register for the card from the beginning of
2008 and it will be phased in over two years.
The card will also be used to check identities for immigration and
security purposes and to crack down on fraud. Its embedded computer
chip will include a photograph, number, signature, date of birth and
address.
From 2010 people will not be able to receive government health and
welfare payments without a card.
People may choose to have other information stored on the card, such
as health and emergency contact details which, for example, ambulance
officers could use.
Although it will cost $1 billion it is estimated it will save the
Government $3 billion a year.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, said the Government had considered a
national identity card after last year's London bombings but in the
end it "was not predisposed to adopt a national ID card".
He denied the card was "a Trojan horse for an ID card" but
acknowledged it would have "enhanced security features".
He said the security features of the smart card were one reason that a
separate national identity card was not deemed necessary. Its
perceived "Big Brother" features were another reason.
The Government's decision followed a number of cabinet debates. Mr
Howard said it showed a balance had been struck between ease of access
to government payments and enhanced security measures on the one hand
and legitimate concerns about storing personal information on the
other.
However some of his ministers think of it as an identity card. Before
the announcement the Treasurer, Peter Costello, referred to it as just
that, and then corrected himself.
The NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, whom Mr Howard consulted before the
announcement, welcomed the card.
He said it was possible to balance threats to security with individual
rights.
However, the president of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, Cameron
Murphy, said the card would put people at risk of identity theft and
fraud.
"Everybody is interested in streamlining accessibility to government
services," he said.
"It's really how you go about doing it and ensuring any system is safe
and secure and people aren't forced to provide information that is
unnecessary and exposes them to the risk of fraud."
The president of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, Terry
O'Gorman, said the announcement "marked a move towards an eventual ID
card".
Business reacted suspiciously, saying it could easily turn into an
identity card.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's chief, Peter Hendy,
said that although he supported clamping down on welfare fraud he was
concerned that "an upgraded card runs the risk of providing government
with a platform for a far more costly and intrusive Australia
Card-type proposal".
The Opposition's human services spokesman, Kelvin Thomson, gave
in-principle support to the card but warned of a potential cost
blow-out.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/official-national-card-due-by-2010/2006/04/26/1145861419456.html

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