Home > Our Publications > Australian Outlook> 2005 > August

New ID plans cover
passports, licenses

AUSTRALIANS could be fingerprinted or photographed as part of a national identity card, with Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone giving conditional support to the controversial plan.

Despite computer experts warning that a single ID system may not prove effective, Senator Vanstone offered the strongest support yet for an identity card.

Prime Minister John Howard also appears to be warming to the ID concept, telling reporters in Washington that the security environment had changed dramatically since he led opposition to the Australia Card in 1987.

Cabinet is examining whether a national ID card could boost Australia's counter-terrorist effort and better control illegal immigrants.

Senator Vanstone said an ID system would have to include a biometric component (such as a fingerprint or photo) to be effective.

Driver's licences, credit cards and electronic passports may also share a standard for recording physical descriptions of the holder, in a dramatic extension of government ID plans.

Called biometric identifiers, unique physical features of individuals such as fingerprints, facial features and characteristics of the human eye are recorded and installed in an electronic chip embedded in documents and cards.

A biometric identifier based on facial features is to be included in every Australian passport from October.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the Government was developing technical standards for biometrics so they could be used in other documents as part of its National Identity Security Strategy.

"We are developing standards for a range of identity documents, "including the appropriate use of biometric identifiers to make them harder to counterfeit", Mr Ruddock said.

Biometric standards were being developed in conjunction with the States, which were responsible for issuing key identity documents such as birth certificates, fact of death data and driver's licences, he said.

Computer security expert Terry Hartmann said the development of government standards for biometrics was important for the private sector, which relied on government identity documents.

Mr Hartmann, who is head of biometrics at Unisys, said banks may use the standards in the next generation of credit cards.

"A number of banks have started looking at it," he said.

"Banks have video cameras at ATM machines, and using a facial recognition system attached to the card would give them another layer of security."

Governments are introducing stricter controls of IDs in conjunction with a Document Verification Service being trialled by the Attorney-General's Department, which lets agencies cross-check documents.