It is of some concern that there is once again talk about a national identity card in Australia. There are two reasons we should take the current talk seriously, and worry about it. Make that three. The third reasons is that Philipp Ruddock, ArchDuke of Hades, knows that right now he is in a position to push it through and make it happen, regardless of any opposition. First reason is that so far his justification for a need for the card boils down to “I want it” - vague hand wavings about identity fraud and protecting us from terrorists.
Of course - and here I commit an act of sedition - terrorists, should they decide to attack here in the land of Oz, are somewhat unlikely to halt their attack because they don’t have valid ID cards. In fact, if the worst happened, then it is probable they would have valid ID cards.
The second, and worse, problem is one that I have had intimate involvement with in my work with several State and Local government instrumentalities: the various databases which would need to be bought together (One card to rule them all, one card to bind them) are extraordinarily dirty. Cleaning the data in order to make the cross references necessary to make the card in any way effective and valid will be an extraordinarily expensive and lengthy project, doomed to failure. This will with absolute certainty leave us with records that are mismatched.
This is a far more sinister risk than it might at first glance appear. Consider which is worse: a government body that deports an Australian citizen because they don’t have sufficient information at hand to recognize her as a citizen, or one that deports an Australian citizen because they have grossly incorrect information?
Be afraid, people, because there’s a better than average chance the card will be foisted upon us.