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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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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