22/1/07

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has welcomed the exposure draft of the legislation governing the health and social services access card and accompanying system.

"The legislation presents an opportunity to prescribe the purpose, functions and practical operation of the access card and has the potential to offer Australians assurances that their personal information will be safeguarded and their privacy respected," Ms Curtis said.

While welcoming the development of the legislation, in a submission to the Office of Access Card, the Commissioner has suggested a number of enhancements to the Exposure Draft of the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007, including:

• The guiding policy setting for the register should be to collect the minimum amount of personal information and this should be reflected in the legislation.
• While the Draft states that it is not an object of the Bill that access cards be used as a 'national identity card', it is suggested that community trust be further enhanced by recasting this provision and including a statement that the objects of the Bill include to prohibit the access card being used as a national identity card.
• The legislation should state that the access card number (and related identifiers) do not become unique identifiers for each individual, which could be used, shared or adopted by Australian Government agencies, State and Territory agencies, or the private sector.
• The legislation should prescribe, in detail, a statutory process for assessing and approving any future uses of the access card and associated systems (such as the register). It is suggested this would positively impact on public confidence in the initiative.

"My Office is committed to continuing to work constructively with the Office of Access Card to help ensure that the access card legislation and framework offers a robust and high level of protection of Australians' privacy," Ms Curtis said.