Access Card should be ordered off the field for good

Minister Ian Campbell, his replacement, was then forced to resign over the Brian Burke scandal less than three months later. This again left the Access Card without a prime mover. While the present Minister for Human Services Chris Ellison has been left to defend the scheme, the Head of Human Services, Patricia Scott has been replaced by Helen Williams. In the top job for a mere two months, Ms Williams has the unenviable task of attempting to salvage the billion dollar project.

Third, there has been the mixed level of success that the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce (the Fels taskforce) has achieved in persuading any of the Ministers for Human Services to wholeheartedly adopt its recommendations to strengthen consumer, privacy and security protections within the scheme. The taskforce has warned against allowing the card to become a national identity card by virtue of function creep and has agitated for a greater degree of individual choice, for example, as to whether an individual's legal name or a photograph or a unique card number should appear on the surface of the card.

The taskforce has also stated that proof of identity documents should not be scanned or copied after they have been verified and has also recommended shelving plans to include voluntary medical and emergency data on the customer controlled portion of the chip.

Despite the Fels taskforce’s concerns, many of the more sensible recommendations have been rejected, such as making it voluntary to have a photograph or electronic signature on the surface of the card. The government has also yet to properly minimise privacy and security concerns in regards to the operation and design of the card as a form of concession system to be used by state government agencies, something which the Fels taskforce placed great emphasis on.

Finally, the government appears to have miscalculated whether short consultation periods, timelines, and reports would lead to the successful implementation of the scheme in its preferred timeframe. Arguably, such measures have had the reverse effect, grinding the project to a virtual standstill at the time of writing.

During the traditional summer Australian holiday period, a draft Bill was released for comment, but it contained a mere fraction of the whole proposal. Many submitters were disillusioned by this process and they criticised the government for their piecemeal consultation process.

When Parliament resumed in February this year, the Bill was rushed into the House of Representatives. This was a calculated endeavour by the government to force the passage of the Bill through the House. However, moves by the Democrats and other minor parties to have the Bill referred to a committee were reluctantly agreed to - albeit with a narrow timeframe. It is here, when the proposal received greater scrutiny, that the project truly came unstuck.

In a rare show of solidarity, cross-party committee members joined together to "red card" the smartcard. The government-chaired committee considered many of the features of the proposed card and supporting database infringed unnecessarily on personal freedoms and the right to personal privacy. Not least that the Access Card appeared to be nothing more than an ID card in disguise.

The Senate Committee’s line of inquiry stripped away all the technology and gadgetry and revealed the more sinister aspects of this scheme. For example, this piece of plastic may see the demise of the much loved, and widely used, not-for-profit Medic Alert system, to be replaced by the customer-controlled health area of the smartcard that has the potential for profit.

The biometric photograph is to form part of a databank able to be tapped into by law enforcement agencies. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police will be able to request the Secretary of the Department of Human Services grant access to photographs to assist with their criminal intelligence work, and in some instances they will not even need a warrant.

Each card and the smart card chip itself will carry a number which could be used to link databases both internal and external to the smartcard system.

The scathing Chair’s report backed by all members of the Senate Committee could have largely been ignored but for the fact that the issue of a national identity card is capable of polarising the community. Minister Ellison was left with no choice but to scrap the bill and go back to the drawing board.