Beazley says ID card a smokescreen

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Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has accused the Prime Minister of raising the issue of a national identity card as a distraction. John Howard has called for a debate on a national ID card, arguing it could be useful in the fight against terrorism. Some Coalition MPs have privacy concerns, although the proposal has been backed by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie.

Mr Beazley says Mr Howard is using the issue as a smokescreen to distract from the Government's problems in the immigration and security areas. The Labor leader says if the Prime Minister was serious he would put out a position paper with options for an ID card. "When we get into a serious debate on this we'll put out a comprehensive position but what I'll tell you now is this: there's a lot of other things we ought to do on the struggle in the war on terror before we get round to thinking about this," he said. "We've got chronic problems in aviation security, chronic problems in railway security and with sensitive sites around the country."


A number of Coalition MPs have also expressed scepticism about a national ID card scheme. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says if there is to be an ID card, it should be fully equipped with fingerprints or other information unique to the owner - so-called biometric data - so it could not be shared or used if stolen.


Terrorism is the main reason behind the Prime Minister's decision to promote discussion of the idea. But Queensland Liberal backbencher Steve Ciobo says such a card is not the answer to stopping terrorists. "We need to recognise that if we centralise all of this information and if we require the entire Australian population to provide biometric information, such as for example fingerprints on ID cards, I would suggest it's only a short step after that before successive governments may choose for example to require that all Australians have on them at all times their national ID card," he said. Governments already hold a vast amount of information about their citizens - from tax file numbers to Medicare data.




http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1416814.htm

[WhiteTara]

1. It's not like people are sneaking across the

border in the middle of the night. I mean really it is in the middle of the ocean. Oh, I get it...they are silently rowing into the shore in the middle of the night. You just know that is happening by the thousands each week. Bloody Fascists