The Australian reports that the new Government will not proceed with the Access Card proposal.

According to The Australian, if elected Labor will not proceed with the Access Card.

Even if the Coalition is re-elected the Access Card’s future is doubtful. (see previous post)

In a recent presentation, IT and privacy consultant Roger Clarke declared the Access Card project as a failure listing the following reasons:

• Vast Scale ("largest IT project in the world")
• Arbitrary and Ridiculously Tight Deadlines
• Tenders Prior to Parliamentary Approval
• Untested Technologies
• Unclear Requirements
• Rapidly Changing Requirements
• ‘Going for Glory’ (Hockey’s "pilots are for aircraft")
• Huge Media Scepticism
• Huge Risk of Public Rejection
• Total Failure to Engage with the Public Interest
• Seriously Annoyed Tenderers, left in limbo
• Low Staff Morale, Staff Turnover, Loss of Corporate Memory

"Ellison’s staff have realised it’s an unmitigated disaster (and I’m limiting my
comments here to project risk and not going into the impact it would have on
privacy)….

The big Booz Allen Hamilton contract will be paid out.  But the tenderers for
the big contracts can pack up and go home now, and the public servants can go
hunting for their next jobs.  That will save us, as taxpayers, a cool billion
dollars that would have been sadly wasted if the project had proceeded."

via Open and Shut

The Consumer and Privacy Taskforce’s fifth report to government relates to Registration (pdf).

The Taskforce has identified the registration process, whereby in excess of 16.5 million Australians are registered and enrolled in the Access Card scheme as critical to the card’s success.

The Report discusses:
• Preparing the system to undertake registration
• Personal registration activities
• Procedures at registration
• Production of, and Post-Production issues for, the Access Card.

The Office of Access Card has issued a series of fact sheets to accompany the second exposure draft of the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007.

Chair of the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, Professor Allan Fels
AO, has also released a report on the Access Card Review and Appeals
System and the Taskforce advice on governance.

“The
Taskforce has recommended that a comprehensive system of internal and
external review be established in relation to decisions about the card
that affect individuals. Accountability mechanisms, primarily to the
Parliament, should be strong,” Professor Fels said.

The draft Bill proposes to establish a dedicated Access Card Ombudsman rather than a separate review body for external reviews if a person is dissatisfied with an internal merits review.

The Minister for Human Services, Senator the Hon. Chris Ellison,
has released for public comment second exposure drafts of the Human Services
(Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007 and the Human Services (Enhanced
Services Delivery) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2007.

The period for public comment on the draft Bills closes on Tuesday 21 August 2007.

Chair of the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, Professor Allan Fels
AO, has released the Taskforce’s second report (pdf), on whether Voluntary Medical and Emergency
Information should be included on the customer controlled portion of the access card
chip.

The Taskforce initially believed that there was considerable in principle support for the use of the Access Card as a device to enhance the access to emergency and health data which could
assist in the treatment of individuals in situations of accident and emergency.

However the submissions revealed how complex and difficult this would be to achieve in a practical sense. The critical issues revolved around the validation of data entered; keeping this data current and accessing it physically in emergency situations.

The main criticisms were :
• the use of the Access Card for the storage of medical and emergency health data is a purpose so removed from the essential rationale for having an Access Card that this functionality should not be supported
• that recommendations which preclude future uses in the medical and emergency health services area should not be supported
• insufficient attention has been paid to the additional and special privacy protections which need to be accorded to voluntary health data which is recognised as having a higher degree of sensitivity than many other classes of data
• there are numerous technical or architectural questions which still remain to be resolved before any effective system involving the storage of medical and emergency health data could be implemented. 

The Taskforce recommended that:

1. The Government should defer the possible implementation of this aspect
   of the access card program until such time as further consultation and
   consideration can be undertaken with a view to addressing the issues
   raised in this report;
2. At the point of
   registration, card applicants should be given the opportunity to
   register their consent to be an organ donor on the Organ Donor Register
   managed by Medicare Australia, and also be given the option to have
   their organ donor status reflected on the Access Card.

The Minister for Human Services Senator Ellison said that the Government will defer the introduction of
the owner-controlled part of the chip until further consideration and
consultation has taken place.

The Australian has reported that the Access Card legislation introduction will be delayed by up to 8 months (here and here): "legislation due to go before federal Parliament this month had been
delayed. Instead, a draft "exposure bill" will be released for public
debate in the next fortnight."

The Chair of the Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, Professor Allan Fels
AO, has released the Discussion Paper on the Registration process.

In this Discussion Paper, the Taskforce has focussed on questions which it sees as directly related to, or immediately arising from, the central question of how to enrol, in excess of 16.0 million Australian citizens, permanent residents and other eligible persons and to provide them with their own Access Card before the scheme comes into full operation at some date in 2010.

The paper raises the fundamental question of what is the appropriate level of proof of identity that an applicant for an Access Card will need to establish in order to be issued with one.

It also discusses:

•managing address issues for persons who are chronically homeless
• security features related to data capture, transmission and storage
• particular issues related to people with religious/ethical objections to requirements of the Access Card registration process
• the methods of return of issued cards to cardholders
• commencement arrangements to activate operation of the Access Card
• the cancellation, suspension or deactivation of the card
• preferred replacement arrangements
• the specific issues faced by transgendered Australians
• the specific issues faced by people with mental illness or disability
• the specific issues faced in relation to the issue of cards to prisoners on release
• the inclusion of data about dependents, carers or people with powers of attorney on the card
• arrangements for the issue of the card, or amendment of its details, by Australians and other eligible cardholders living overseas.

The
paper was written by the Taskforce prior to the Senate Inquiry Report
being released .

The  Minister for Human Services, Senator Chris Ellison, said following the release of the report of the Senate Committee Inquiry into the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007:

“The legislation will now be presented as one package, to be introduced in June. This will mean members of the public can see the full detail of the legislation.”

“The Government is committed to providing ordinary Australians with a better health
benefits, veterans’ and social services system, and we remain on track
to rolling out the access card in 2008.”