[LINK] Access Card Taskforce Submissions

[Tom Worthington]

I had a message from the Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce 
asking if my submission could be published. This was odd, as I didn't 
make a submission.

I did suggest the KPMG report on the card be made available in an 
accessible format. What was provided was a bitmap image of the 
report, which was difficult to read and search. It would also be 
inaccessible to the disabled, which may be unlawful.

I didn't hear anything back from the Minister or Professor Fells 
about this. It appears that rather than reading what I wrote and 
acting on it, all the taskforce did was to file my message and make a 
note to send me an acknowledgement.

But the task force wanted a submission, so I have sent them my 
comments on the proposal <http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/smartcard/>.

ps: The taskforce also sent a media release, which I couldn't find on 
the Human Services web site, so here it is appended. This says the 
Task Force received "over 70 high quality submissions". As he didn't 
act on it, I guess mine was one of those Professor Fells didn't think 
was of high quality. ;-)

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www.humanservices.gov.au
MEDIA RELEASE 3 August 2006
Quality submissions to guide development of access card

Professor Allan Fels, AO, today said that he was encouraged by the 
response to the first discussion paper issued by the Access Card 
Consumer and Privacy Task Force.

The Task Force has received over 70 high quality submissions," 
Professor Fels said. In addition, the Consumer and Privacy Task Force 
has been on the road for two months, meeting with around 50 consumer 
and privacy organisations to discuss in detail, their issues and 
concerns. We've also spent some time with Government agencies to 
understand their business in relation to the access card.

Consultation is happening at a very early stage in the development of 
the access card system and our job is to make sure that the key 
issues are identified and addressed." The Task Force is currently 
considering the issues raised in the submissions and consultations, 
and is developing independent advice to the Minister for Human 
Services. Professor Fels said it was important that Australians 
understand the issues under consideration and that he would make 
submissions publicly available with the permission of their authors. 
The consultation process is not over," Professor Fels said.

Individuals and organisations can provide input at any time by 
emailing me direct or by posting written submissions to the Task 
Force. My initial advice to the government will focus on the high 
level architecture of the card. We expect our input to influence the 
design and development of the access card system. The Task Force will 
then turn its attention to the process of registration. I expect to 
issue a second discussion paper for public comment on these matters 
towards the end of this year."

Submissions to the Access Card Consumer and Privacy Task Force can be 
emailed to a.fels at humanservices.gov.au or posted to the Task Force at 
PO Box 3959, Manuka, ACT, 2603.

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Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd           ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au               PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617