Privacy Fear Stalls New Welfare Card

Privacy Fear Stalls New Welfare Card

The Age

Friday March 16, 2007

By Annabel Stafford, Canberra and Kenneth Nguyen, Legal affairs reporter

THE future of the $1.1 billion Access Card is in doubt after a scathing report by a cross-party parliamentary committee reiterated fears it could become an identity card and pose a threat to privacy.

The committee, headed by the Queensland Liberal Brett Mason, criticised the Government for asking Parliament to accept the implementation of the card "on blind faith" and has sent back the first part of the legislation for redrafting.

The Government responded swiftly to the committee's report, agreeing to withdraw the first of what were to be two Access Card bills and introduce all the legislation for the card together in one bundle.

By agreeing to the committee's recommendation, the Government has avoided the embarrassing prospect of having some of its own senators cross the floor to vote against the bill.

While the bill has been passed by the lower house, the report - and concerns previously expressed by Government senators - suggested it might not get through the upper house.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee report says the Government still has a long way to go before it convinces even its own back bench that the Access Card is no Australia Card. The "imprecise wording of key items in the bill raised . . . concerns that there are inadequate constraints to prevent the Access Card becoming an ID card", it says.

However, Human Services Minister Chris Ellison said the Government was committed "to having the legislation passed this year" and he was con-fident that concerns raised by the Senate committee could be resolved.

The committee's concerns include:

? Biometric photographs on the card could turn it into a de facto ID card.

? The card and its supporting database could be used for unintended purposes through "function creep".

? The Australian Federal Police and ASIO could get information from the database without a warrant and without the knowledge of Parliament.

"The committee is being asked to approve the implementation of the Access Card on blind faith without full knowledge of the details or implications of the program," the report says.

"This is inimical to good law-making."

Reinforcing the concerns raised by the Senate committee, the non-partisan Parliamentary Library has also released a damning analysis of the legislation.

Shadow human services minister Tanya Plibersek leapt on the report, saying in a statement that Coalition members rarely criticised Government programs, "but the Access Card is so bad that they have swallowed their fears and spoken out".

Australian Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja, a member of the committee, said the report was "a temporary win for . . . those Australians who have campaigned vehemently against this card".