04/12/08

NEW "smartcard" driver’s licences expected to be phased in from mid-2010 would not be as secure as expected and posed their own safety and privacy risks, State Parliament has been told.

Speaking during debate on laws to bring "smartcard" technology to drivers, motorcycle, taxi, tow truck, dangerous goods and other licences and the Adult Proof of Age card, Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long warned that for every technological protection, there was a technological way of cracking that protection.

The new cards will include a chip on which digital photographs and digitised signatures will be stored, and would have the ability for the card holder to add additional non-licence related information.

"The argument for both of these as presented in the explanatory notes focuses strongly on the vulnerability of the existing laminated products to fraud and identity deceptions," Ms Lee Long told parliament.

"However, during an earlier briefing on this issue when I questioned whether these cards would stop all fraud I was advised that they would not. They do not offer as much protection as we are being told by this government.

Information stored on the chip would be protected by a PIN although Police would be equipped with a reader able to penetrate that security. And those people who might want to use their licence as proof of address would have to provide a separate document such as a rates notice or electricity account; or otherwise they will have to provide their PIN to the person or business involved.

"As I understand it, the PIN unlocks every single piece of private information on the card which could range from emergency conduct phone numbers to medical information, private details of other family members, information about registered vehicles--and the list goes on," she said.

"And of course, it will be yet another number for people to have to remember."

Ms Lee Long highlighted that one of the protections offered by the government was the need for Police to secure approval from a Justice to access digital photographs, although that approval could be sought after the fact.

"If we are going to rely on a Justice issuing permission as a protection of someone’s privacy, surely we should have our officers seek that permission before, not after, accessing the material.

She also highlighted how difficult would be for card holders to access their own information.

"They will need a smart card reader and a computer. They will then need to log on to Queensland Transport and insert their PIN. Only then will they be able to view their own information. Only then will they be able to change it or see what information has been accessed by others.

"But what of those who are not computer literate, and that is a significant proportion of the population, let alone those who do not have access to broadband or even the ordinary dial-up links?"

The cost of a new licence was also expected to jump to an estimated $120, a significant hike on existing fees.

Ms Lee Long said she was not surprised to see a Labor government introduce such a proposal.

"It was a federal Labor government that first tried to introduce a national identity card, the Australia Card, in the 1980s," she said.

"It was defeated twice in the Senate and then, after legislative drafting flaws were identified, the idea was dropped. It has now resurfaced here in Queensland under the Bligh government."

ENDS

MEDIA RELEASE

27/11/08

The way has been opened for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to take control of water pricing in Queensland.

Member for Tablelands Rosa Lee Long said amendments in the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Bill passed recently had strengthened the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"These changes initially refer to the ACCC having an extended role ‘within the Murray-Darling Basin’ in relation to water charge rules and water pricing under the Commonwealth Water Act," Ms Lee Long said.

"However, later on in explanatory documents it becomes clear that the ACCC could eventually have control of all water charging and market rules right across Queensland.

"It is described in this way— "strengthening the role of the ACCC by extending the application of water market rules and water charge rules to cover, respectively, all bodies that charge regulated water charges and all irrigation infrastructure operators, and by providing for any State to ‘opt in’ such that the water charge rules and water market rules apply to water resources outside the Murray-Darling Basin.

"Irrigators on the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme, the Burdekin and elsewhere could find their water charges under the control of the ACCC.

"This is the organisation that apparently believes the disgraceful mark-ups between farmgate price and supermarket prices are quite acceptable."

Ms Lee Long told parliament the ACCC: "has little credibility in the bush".

"The thought of it playing a role at any level in something as important as water prices is nightmarish stuff," she said.

"The question needs to be asked: how quickly is this government planning to sell out its irrigators and hand over control of Queensland’s water, and especially its pricing, to one of the most discredited agencies of the federal government?

"If the ACCC believes that grocery pricing chains are working just fine, then heaven forbid if we ever have to find out what it thinks about how water should be priced."

ENDS