The Guardian 7 June, 2006
Childcare Smart Card
invites backdoor surveillance
Jules Andrews
The new childcare "Smart Card" announced by the Howard Government last week amounts to yet another method of tracking and surveillance of Australians, and a back-door introduction of a compulsory national ID card.
When the Howard Government recently announced its proposal for a new Centrelink Smart Card Ministers went to great length to emphasise the card would not be a national ID card.
The Government stressed the card would be "non-compulsory" — except for those who wished to claim benefits from Centrelink. When Family Benefit, Unemployment Benefit, Disability Pensions, Aged Pension and Single Parent Pensions are taken into account — this "non-compulsory" card then becomes compulsory for 10 million Australians — 50 percent of the population.
When asked a direct question by Democrat Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja on whether the bio-metric data on the Smartcard would be used to spy on the public in conjunction with closed-circuit television — for example, using the photo on the card in order to utilise facial-recognition tracking devices — the best answer the Government could come up with was "there are no plans at this stage to link the two".
Less than a month later the Federal Government has now announced another "non-compulsory" Smartcard — to be obligatorily used by all parents who wish to access childcare.
Mal Brough, Minister for Families and Community Services, insists: "The introduction of the system would provide more information than ever before on childcare availability, supply and use. Services would benefit from streamlined processes and less administrative burden. It would improve efficiency and accountability across the child care sector."
However, the "use" of the card will allow the Government to track the whereabouts of Australian children. Once the Government has gone to the trouble of setting up a database to track every Australian infant, it is surely unlikely then to abandon this tracking once the child turns five and enters primary school.
Added to the Government’s recent announcement that it intends to withdraw Centrelink payments from people deemed "bad parents" — including the failure of children to attend school — the opportunity to link the two "systems" must be irresistible.
The idea that the Federal Government will actually go to the trouble of requiring two separate cards is unthinkable — these two functions will inevitably be rolled into the one card and will be another step down the path of a "compulsory ID card for all".