National access card "mother of all IT projects"

This headline in yesterday's Australian "Smartcard headed for a fall" might prove to be unduly pessimistic but the article itself correctly cites some of the major challenges that face the Federal Government in giving effect to its commitment to proceed with a national access (not ID) card. The article says this is the "mother of all IT projects" and that history shows us that projects of this kind are never achieved on time and within budget. Perhaps prophetically The Australian also reported on a KPMG report that showed that project execution was a major weakness in government IT management.