Australian health card is "back door" ID card

The Australian government is planning the introduction of a controversial "smart card" to crack-down on Medicare and other welfare-related fraud, in a move that is considered by critics to be a back-door national identity card program.

Tony Abbott, Australia's Health Minister told Australia's Broadcasting Corporation radio news that the card would only hold details of allergies, blood type and basic identifying information. He said: "that could be the difference between life and death. So this is not something that should scare people. It's about delivering better services, it's about ensuring that people can't steal your identity, it's about trying to ensure that we get better value for taxpayers' dollars."

The scale of Medicare fraud in Australia is not known, but the cost of introducing the card is estimated at A$1.0 billion ($743.4 million) and the government believes that it would cover its costs in terms of reduced benefit fraud within five years. The federal government, despite assurances about privacy and civil rights, is reported to be split on the issue of the benefit cards.