Melbourne public meeting on Access Card

Well, as we were saying......

If you're in Melbourne or can be there on 22 February you might be interested in this public meeting about the Federal Government's National card proposal, organised by the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties. Details:

Date: Thursday 22 February 2007
Time: 5.30 – 7.00 pm
Place: 45 Downstairs 45 Flinders Lane Melbourne
Chair: Julian Burnside QC, President, Liberty Victoria
Speakers: Robin Banks, CEO, Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Tim Warner, Access Card No Way
Tanya Plibersek, Opposition Spokesperson for Human Services

The Federal Government has been invited to send a speaker but at the
time of this notice has not accepted the invitation.
www.libertyvictoria.org.au

Phone: (03) 9670 6422
Fax: (03) 9670 6433
info@libertyvictoria.org.au
GPO BOX 3161
MELBOURNE VICTORIA 3001

Thanks to Anna Johnston, the 'No ID Card' campaign director for the Australian Privacy Foundation for the alert on this.

In a letter published in to-day's Australian Financial Review "When is an ID card not an ID card", Anna says that it would be quite simple for the Government to ensure that the access card is not used as an all purpose identity card: simply "take the photo, signature and unique ID number off the face of the card, store that information only in the card's chip, and strictly limit access to the chip to only those people who provide Medicare, Centrelink and veterans' benefits. Then the card would serve its alleged purpose of service delivery, but be rendered useless to anyone else as a form of ID".