Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection, Mr Deputy Speaker, because I take it as an opportunity to make it very clear. I say again what I have said on numerous occasions—that is, this access card is not a national ID card, but there could be opportunity in the future for a future government to make it a national ID card. And that is the very reason why—I repeat again—I have been very pleased to work closely with the minister to ensure that there are in place safeguards to prevent such an event from occurring. In this respect, I am certainly pleased to recognise the reality that we should embrace new technology but also play our role to ensure that that new technology is not abused.

I will raise a number of additional points as well. There can be no doubt that the access card will be used fairly commonly. To suggest otherwise, I believe, would be naive. In the same way that originally a drivers licence was simply a permit that indicated someone was able to and licensed to drive a vehicle, yet now it is used for all intents and purposes on everything from renting a video to getting into a club or pub, I suspect that in the future we will see the access card used for the same reasons. It is with this knowledge that I say that the message should be made very clear that the access card is not a proof of identity document. If this government or any future government sought to hold out the access card as indicating that it is proof of identity, it would be completely wrong, because I have no doubt that the access card will and can be fraudulently produced in the future. Those who would seek to do the wrong thing by society, those who would seek to do the wrong thing in society, would certainly be able to produce a forged access card. The notion that in some way this card is unable to be forged is wrong. It of course can be and will be forged. In that respect, production of the access card as a form of identity verification is of no consequence whatsoever. If, for example, a Qantas attendant or someone at a bank counter asked for ID and what was proffered was the access card, I would suggest to that bank or to the private sector generally that that should not be accepted as a form of proving identity, because that could be a forged card. It could be a card that was forged that very day.

It is this kind of scenario that raises for me some concerns about function creep on the slippery slope. In this respect, I suggest that it is only a matter of time—and, indeed, we have seen some evidence of it thus far—before the private sector will say, ‘We seek access back to the national registration database to ensure that the card presented is a valid card.’ The private sector will seek to have access to the government’s records to ensure that a card as presented can be verified as being valid. In this respect, I would suggest that it would not be very long and certainly not much of a stretch to suggest that continued production of the card to verify identity would see widespread calls from the private sector for this purpose.

So, in supporting the legislation tonight and in supporting the future legislation by this government, I also take this opportunity to underscore and make clear the fact that this card in no way, I believe, provides any verification as to identity. It certainly does within government. It certainly does within Centrelink or Medicare or for any of those purposes where the government is able to pull up the central files, including a photograph, to determine whether the person presenting the card is presenting a valid card. But, without access to the central database, the card itself does not verify identity and, in this respect, I would make that a very clear point. That is not concerning to me and I do not believe it should be concerning to government, because in that respect this card is for the purposes of providing government services and nothing further. So people seeking to extend the coverage of the card do so in the full knowledge that the card could simply be a forged card and therefore of not much weight to the private sector.

In summary, I look forward to welcoming the comments that will be made by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, which, I understand, are undertaking an inquiry into this matter. Their report on 15 March, when tabled, will be interesting reading. I certainly am supportive of this government’s intentions and of this first piece of legislation, and I look forward to seeing additional safeguards put in place that touch upon a number of the issues I have raised this evening. I also condemn some of the misleading statements that have been made by members opposite who seek to use this for political advantage. (Time expired)

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