(1)   In respect of his statement made to the AMA National Conference in May 2006 to the effect that: “The access card can only be read with an electronic reader and the safety of the information is provided by encryption and a card pin or password”, is he aware of (a) Mr Bashford’s testimony to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee in May 2006, that Smartcard information would be “protected by a PIN” and (b) the statement on page 19 of the KPMG report titled Health and Social Services Smartcard Initiative Business Case - Public Extract, that: “Given that people will not use this card as frequently as they use banking cards, people will forget their PIN and cause delays at the chemist or at the doctors and will be forced to get a new PIN from a call centre. It is simply not a practical solution.”; if so, what is his view on this matter.

(2)   Will the Smartcard require the (a) compulsory and/or (b) selective use of a PIN number.

(3)   In respect of the Smartcard, will the (a) degree of privacy protection and (b) system efficiency depend upon the use of a PIN number.

(4)   Will the Minister explain how the use of PIN numbers will impact upon the costs and benefits of the Smartcard project.

(1)   Testimony by Mr Bashford regarding the access card was prefaced with the statement that final decisions on the design and operation of the access card had not been made. The final design of the card will be undertaken in consultation with the Lead Advisor, Chief Technology Architect and the Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce headed by Professor Allan Fels, AO.

(2)   Refer to the response provided for question (1).

(3)   Refer to the response provided for question (1).

(4)   Refer to the response provided for question (1). To prepare this answer it has taken approximately 3 hours at an estimated cost of $183.