April 21, 2005

Australia's Planned Health Card Raises Specter of National ID

The Australian government’s plans to roll out a national Medicare smartcard have fueled privacy fears. The government wants to extend the smartcard currently on trial in Tasmania throughout Australia as part of a broader strategy to reduce paperwork in major health and welfare agencies. But the Australian Democrats warned the proposed card could act as a default ID card. A Hawke government proposal to introduce a national ID card, called the Australia Card, bitterly divided the nation in the mid-1980s.

Smartcard plan sparks privacy fears, Sydney Morning Herald, April 21, 2005.