[LINK] Labor swift to dump Access Card

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

<brd>
There should now be just enough time before the next Federal budget for 
Medicare to put up a proposal to replace the Medicare mag stripe card 
with a card that has both mag strip and chip.

A nice, simple piece of technology that would be gradually extensible 
and would not frighten the punters.

It would not require legislation, invasive and expensive registration, 
photos or new ID numbers.

At least that is how it could be sold. The reality might eventually be 
something different. It could be like a frog in water on a stove.
</brd>

Labor swift to dump Access Card
Karen Dearne
December 07, 2007
The Australian
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22885847-15306,00.html

THE Labor Government has moved quickly to scrap the Howard 
administration's controversial $1.1 billion Human Services identity card.

The federal Government has shut down the Office of the Access Card and 
closed its website, honouring its election promise to scrap the 
controversial program.

The $1.1 billion project - intended to provide every Australian with a 
unique health and welfare number and biometric photo on a smartcard - 
opened a year ago, with two key tenders attracting strong bids from IT 
and card supply companies keen to secure a role.

The project has languished since mid-year, after an all-party Senate 
committee rejected the draft enabling legislation as wholly inadequate 
and lacking in protections against the card's use as a de facto identity 
card.

Bidders are understood to have spent millions on preparing their tenders 
for systems integration and card issuing; while the department spent 
more than $50 million on consultants, administration and advertising.

The Howard government also spent an undisclosed amount on establishing 
the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce to manage public consultation; its 
resulting reports provided recommendations that were ignored by the then 
minister, Senator Chris Ellison.

One participant notes with frustration the "diverted efforts from other 
agencies' activities, and the time wasted by people responding to the 
disordered consultation process".

However, the bulk of the cost lay in completing the processing and 
registration of some 18 million Australians while the card was rolled 
out over two years to 2010, and Labor plans to use these savings elsewhere.

The deadlines for the technical and administrative parts of the Access 
Card regime were widely seen to be highly ambitious and driven by a 
political timetable rather than a scheduled nationwide rollout.

The scope of the project and card capabilities also varied wildly as 
former Employment and Workplace Relations minister, Joe Hockey, talked 
up plans for the private sector to piggyback applications on the 
smartcard for secondary, "consumer friendly" purposes.
-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au