Bank Workers Face Smartcard Fine
The Age
Thursday December 14, 2006
BANK or pub workers who demand their customers produce the Federal Government's new smartcard as a form of ID could go to jail for up to five years or be fined $55,000, under draft legislation.
Companies that demand the card would face fines of up to $275,000. The Government's $1.1 billion access card will replace up to 17 social service cards such as the Medicare card by 2010 and will be required by anyone who wants to get government benefits. But privacy and consumer advocates have raised fears that because almost every Australian will need one, the access card could become an ID card. The Government's legislation is designed to address fears that the access card is an Australia card in disguise. In what Canberra says is "probably a world first", the legislation makes the individual holder the owner of the card - and not the Government. Usually it is the issuer of a card, be it a government or a gymnasium, which owns it. But Canberra will own all the information held on the card. And in a measure that will go some way to allaying fears of "function creep" - in which the uses of the access card are expanded beyond what was first intended - the bill says it can only be used to pay out government benefits and services.
© 2006 The Age
