Parties fail privacy test

PRIVACY advocates in Australia have been underwhelmed by the privacy commitments of the two major parties, giving both sides of politics a failing grade for privacy protections.

The Australian Privacy Foundation set an election challenge last July asking that the parties declare their positions on eight critical privacy issues.

“The government and the alternative government continue to score very badly on privacy”, APF chairman Roger Clarke said.

The privacy foundation gave the Coaltion just 1.5 out of ten for its privacy policies, while Labor also failed with 4.5 out of ten.

“For its total disregard of privacy issues, we need look no further than the recent law introduced by the Government – the new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financial (AML-CTF) Law,” Mr Clarke said.

“Thousands of small businesses are required to collect much more information from customers, and dob them in for anything suspicious.”

“This isn’t just more red-tape for small business; it destroys the trust within Australian society. Alarm bells should be raised merely from the fact that the Government is trying not to draw attention to this new law before the election.”

The Coalition simply ignored key privacy issues. It did not rule out a further attempt to bring in a de facto ID card via the Access Card proposal, and it did not rule out the use of biometrics and RFID tagging of humans.

The Greens and the Democrats faired much better, rating eight and nine out of ten respectively.

The Democrats strong showing “perhaps a reflection of Senator Natasha Stott- Despoja’s commitment to privacy issues over many years” said Clarke.

The Greens high rating was due to the Party’s opposition to the Access Card proposal and its campaign against the excessive elements in the counter terrorism laws.

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Europe takes off as internet destination

NEWLY-installed Human Services Minister Chris Ellison has moved quickly to soothe Access Cards opponents as government prepares for a second shot at getting the smartcard proposal through the Senate.

After failing to get its original enabling Access Card legislation through the Senate in March, Government has committed to redrafting the bill to take into account concerns from both sides of the chamber.

Senators rejected the first bill, saying it lacked detail, particularly around the specific privacy and data security measures that would be put in place to ensure protection of citizens’ private information.

Government has promised a better consultative process with both the public and parliamentarians.

Senator Ellison was appointed to the Human Services portfolio in early March, taking over from Ian Campbell, who had resigned after getting caught in by political crossfire over his having once met with disgraced former Western Australian Premier Brian Burke.

Having had a month to get acclimatised to the portfolio, Senator Ellison last week again started the process of selling the Access Card.

Talking to ABC Radio in Brisbane, Senator Ellison did not stray from the familiar message the Government has pushed for the past year. But he acknowledged there remained public nervousness about the smartcard project, with the Access Card being simply an ID card in the eyes of critics.

“It's not an Australia Card, and I want to make that very clear; we've said that in the legislation,” the Minister said. “This can only be required for accessing Government services.”

“I think it's a great initiative. It will crackdown on welfare fraud. It will make it easier to deal with the Commonwealth Government in accessing benefits. And it will provide greater security for the individuals' identity and to guard against identity theft.”

Senator Ellison said the privacy protections on the card were adequate. “In relation to the privacy aspect, we have the technology to quarantine the areas of information such as Medicare information being kept separately and apart from Centrelink information, which will be kept apart from Veterans Affairs information (etc).”

Once the Access Card was passed by the parliament, Government would embark on a “very significant” communications campaign to make sure the public understands how the implementation of the card will be carried out, Senator Ellison said.

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Legislation heats Access Card debate

CIVIL libertarians and privacy advocates have stepped up their campaign against the proposed Federal government smartcard just weeks after enabling legislation for the so-called Access Card was introduced to Federal parliament.

The Victorian Council for Civil Liberties – which opposes the proposal, calling it is a national ID card – will host a public forum on the Access Card in Melbourne on Thursday.

Chaired by high-profile silk and Liberty Victoria president Julian Burnside, the meeting will include speeches from Labor Human Services spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek and Public Interest Advocacy Centre chief executive Robin Banks.

The meeting, which includes an address by Tim Warner, convener of the Access Card No Way campaign, is expected to be the first of a series of meetings around the country seeking to galvanise opponents of the card.

The billion dollar Access Card proposal seeks to replace 17 health and welfare cards – including the ubiquitous Medicare card – with single government smartcard.

The introduction of Access Card legislation to Parliament two weeks ago detailing how the card will function has set the scene for a long anticipated brawl between supporters of the card – who say it will make Government services more efficient – and those who oppose the initiative.

Advocacy groups like the Australian Privacy Foundation and Electronic Frontiers Australia say the Access Card is effectively a national identity card, and compared the proposal to the defeated 1987 Australia Card proposal.

Human Services Minister Ian Campbell dismisses the charge, saying the legislation introduced to Parliament provides for a penalty of five years jail for anyone demanding that the Access Card be produced for strictly identification purposes.

The proposal is understood to have already caused ructions within the Coalition party room among backbenchers concerned about privacy provisions in the legislation.

Labor has said it supports in principle the introduction of card that improves government services, but is concerned that the proposal has been rushed through without adequate privacy protections.

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