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AUSTRALIA: Government plans central citizen database
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by Maireid Sullivan | May 17, 2008 at 05:46 pm
293 views | 15 Recommendations | 4 comments
This debate has been going on for some time. It seems there is quite a bit of pressure to introduce this, even while citizens have clearly stated they do not want this to proceed. But, according to this report, it is easier said than done.
Excerpt:
The bulk of the project's budget related to the huge task of registering some 15 million Australians for the card.
The Labor Government dumped the controversial project after winning government last year. While she was human services shadow minister, Tanya Plibersek described it as "simply a national ID card in disguise". "It is an ill-conceived, poorly executed project that will cost a great deal more than the Government prepared to admit," she said. ...
"It will be on the radar, as people realise every single Australian will have to attend an interview, be photographed and provide original documents they will have to apply for and pay for," she said. –
From The Australian Newspaper, IT section. –May 13, 2008, by Mahesh Sharma–
THE federal Government has moved to establish a centralised database to host and manage all Australian citizens' personal details, so this information can be easily shared and accessed by any department.
The Australian Taxation Office, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Customs, Centrelink, and other departments, are discussing the possibility of establishing a common registration process to improve information sharing.
The project was being led by the Australian Government Information Management "and it's in respect of a common registration process," ATO chief information officer Bill Gibson said.
"That's exploratory at the moment. There's nothing that exists right now that is a manifestation of this, but we are working with Centrelink, Customs, and other agencies, facilitated by AGIMO.
"That is to work out what would be a common registration process, so that you as a citizen interact with Centrelink, and the registration you go through with Centrelink would be appropriate to be shared with, say, the Tax Office, so we don't have to put you through the same registration process."
He said the discussions were in their "very early" stages.
"There's nothing formally that has been approved it's really in the design and exploration phase at the moment."
A spokesman for AGIMO wasn't aware of the discussions and said the only formal project the department had embarked on in this area was to establish a $42.4 million portal, the Australian Government Online Service Point.
However, this online portal is mainly designed for logging into government websites, as opposed to managing a citizen's identity from a central location, but there are already elements of information sharing between departments.
Read the full report here:
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 22:29 on May 17th, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. I guess the devil is in the detail - how much information is allowed to be shared between departments - and what use is it put to.
at 18:50 on May 18th, 2008
Thanks for the tic, Rachel,
I used to say to conspiracy theorists that I didn't care if the gov. wanted my private info, as long as they also read my poetry," –silly me. :)
at 01:35 on May 18th, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. It's good stuff.
If it went ahead Australia would be the first "common law" country to have what is basically an ID card. It may not start out as an ID card but within a very short period it would become one.
at 18:46 on May 18th, 2008
Absolutely, Infomatique, and I think everyone knows this deep down.
The problem is with the lobbyists who want access to gov. funding for this.