Privacy Issues and the Proposed Sevices Access Card

ACHI has forwarded a submission concerning privacy issues in relation to the proposed new Services Access Card.

Background

The Commonwealth Government is planning to introduce a smartcard based Access Card which will be used as proof of identity for all adult individuals who wish to access services provided by the Commonwealth Department of Human Services. Among other things, use of the card will be necessary to obtain payments from both Medicare and Centrelink. The card is intended to replace 17 health and social services cards, including the Medicare card, health care cards and veteran cards. Because of concerns regarding the possible impact on individual’s privacy, Professor Alan Fels AO has been asked by Minister for Human Services, Mr Joe Hockey, to chair an Access Card Consumer and Privacy Task Force to address consumer and privacy issues.

ACHI's submission

The submission is attached below in PDF format.