Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Attorney-General. Would the Attorney-General advise the House what the Australian government is doing to combat the impact of identity crime?

Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for La Trobe for his question, because obviously there is no doubt that identity fraud is a growing problem confronting law enforcement agencies in all our jurisdictions. In the year 2001-02 the annual cost of identity fraud in Australia was estimated at $1.1 billion, and false identities can underpin terrorist and criminal activity. It is essential in Australia’s interests, both economic and security, that the identity of persons accessing government services, benefits, official documents and positions of trust can be accurately identified.

Last year we funded the development of a prototype document verification service as part of a national identity security strategy. I am pleased to advise the House that that prototype went live today. It initially involved some 50,000 passport applications and some citizenship applications. When people present documents, officials will be able to check online the authenticity of that proof of identity document with the issuing agency. I am confident that this new system will become a powerful means of verifying the legitimacy of Australian passports, citizenship certificates, birth certificates and drivers licences issued by other jurisdictions. Privacy is particularly important in this process, and the pilot has been developed so that no personal information is stored in the system.

There can be no greater invasion of a person’s privacy than the theft of their identity. That is why we are constantly looking at ways to strengthen our national identity security regime. This new measure is a practical demonstration of that commitment, and it will help to protect Australians from the impact of identity crime.