The Federal government calls it a ‘Human Services Access Card’

We call it for what it is: a National ID Card System

Government Documents & Your Personal Data

The following sections provide vital extracts from Government documents which are otherwise inconvenient to find and point to (i.e. we’ve once again been forced to do some of the Government’s job for them).

Data Visible on the Surface of the Card

Information on the surface of the card includes:

  • name. People can choose to have their preferred name on the card, rather than their legal name, but not if it is unlawful, offensive or misleading. A name that is too long will be abbreviated
  • title (at card-holder’s choice)
  • photo
  • signature
  • date of birth (at card-holder’s choice)
  • card number
  • card expiry date
  • DVA entitlements

(From the ‘The Access Card System’ overview document of 13 December 2006, p.3, plus ss.140-150 of the Draft Bill)

This appears to imply that the Card will not show dependants, as the Medicare Card can and mostly does.

That further implies that any dependant person (such as a child or an adult with learning difficulties) who currently does not have a Card may need a Card in future – with all the logistical challenges that involves, to acquire it, carry it, find it, lose it, report it lost, and go through the acquisition process again in order to replace it, in some cases frequently.

Data inside the Chip on the Card

The information controlled by the Commonwealth includes:

  • legal name
  • preferred name, if one is used
  • title, if on the surface of the card
  • date of birth (at card-holder’s choice)
  • gender
  • residential address
  • photo (referred to elsewhere as a low-resolution image)
  • digitised signature
  • card number
  • card expiry date
  • PIN (at card-holder’s choice). This is to be encrypted (but not hashed, as it should be!)
  • data about “benefit cards etc.”, but what data that is to be is at present unclear
  • Medicare number
  • Reciprocal Health Care Card number, if applicable
  • DVA file number, if applicable
  • emergency payment number (whatever that meay mean)
  • concession status (but this is included in the information document and omitted from the draft Bill, so it is completely unclear (a) what it is supposed to mean, and (b) how concessions-granting organisations are supposed to make their decisions)

The information document omits a crucial pair of items disclosed in the draft legislation, s.160 at item 15:

  • “such other information that is determined by [DHS] … reasonably necessary for the administration of [the scheme]”
  • “such other information that is determined by legislative instrument, by the Minister, … for the purposes of this Act”

Given the enormous breadth of the scheme, those provisions appear to make the list of data in the chip very easily extensible.

(From the ‘The Access Card System’ overview document of 13 December 2006, pp.3-4, plus ss.160-170 of the Draft Bill)

In addition, the Government’s web-page headed ‘About the Card’ states that the chip will also contain:

  • “details of children or other dependants”. This would appear to include at least:
    • name
    • entitlements

Data in the Register

To obtain an access card, individuals will need to apply to be registered, and to provide proof of identity documentation. Information provided by individuals when they register for an access card will be stored in the Register. Information stored in the Register will include (a lot of personal data!):

  • legal name
  • preferred name, if one is used
  • any other names known to DHS (but that’s omitted from the information document and only visible in the draft Bill)
  • title (at card-holder’s choice)
  • date of birth (not at card-holder’s choice)
  • place of birth
  • whether an Australian citizen
  • whether an Australian resident
  • gender
  • residential address
  • postal address
  • email address(es?) (at card-holder’s choice)
  • phone number(s?) (at card-holder’s choice)
  • concession status (but this appears to be a misleading description, because other sources indicate that a large number of indicators are involved)
  • date of registration
  • status of registration, referred to in the draft Bill as “suspended” or “cancelled”; which is presumably the same as the item described elsewhere as an indicator that the card is “expired”, “deactivated”, “suspended” or “cancelled”
  • card number
  • card issue date (omitted from the information document)
  • card expiry date
  • PIN (at card-holder’s choice). This is to be encrypted (but not hashed, as it should be!)
  • card colour
  • whether date of birth is displayed on the card
  • DVA file number, if applicable
  • veterans entitlement details, if applicable (incl. TPIS, BLI, POW, EDA. war widow/widower, DVA dependant, veteran)
  • scanned images of at least some, and possibly all of the card holder’s so-called proof of identity documents
  • information about any of the above so-called proof of identity documents
  • a flag indicating whether the card holder has a relationship with any of the participating agencies (but this is quite misleading, because it would appear to actually be a large set of flags)
  • digitised signature
  • photo (but this is an inadequate description, because elsewhere it is referred to as a high-resolution image)
  • a numerical template derived from the photo (elsewhere referred to as a biometric template)
  • emergency payment number, if they have one (but it is completely unclear what this means)
  • date of death, if relevant
  • other benefit card information, if applicable (but it is completely unclear what this means)

The information document list omits the last crucial pair of items disclosed in the draft legislation, s.75 at item 15:

  • “such other information that is determined by [DHS] … reasonably necessary for the administration of [the scheme]”
  • “such other information that is determined by legislative instrument, by the Minister, … for the purposes of this Act”

Given the enormous breadth of the scheme, those provisions appear to make the list of data in the Register very easily extensible.

(From the ‘The Access Card System’ overview document of 13 December 2006, p.4, plus ss.75-90 of the Draft Bill)

If you are aware of errors or omissions in this document, please let us know.