Further to his response to question No. 3641, Part (6); (a) has he received such advice from the Australian Tax Office (ATO); (b) is he aware of advice given by Deputy Commissioner for Taxation, Mr Michael Monaghan, at the Ausert Security Conference on 23 May 2006, that as more is done “…to make it harder to create an identity, then inevitably identity theft will increase” and “Identity crime is becoming more organised and more networked”; if so, (i) will he, the Smartcard Taskforce and the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce seek detailed advice from the ATO on this issue; (ii) will he, the Smartcard Taskforce and the Consumer and Privacy taskforce seek detailed advice from the Australian Federal Police on this issue; (iii) will he, the Smartcard Taskforce and the Consumer and Privacy taskforce seek detailed advice from other countries that have high-value single identity instruments; and (iv) will he publicly release all such advice as it becomes available.

I have established the Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, chaired by Professor Alan Fels AO, to report on consumer and privacy issues arising from the Australian Government’s introduction of a new health and social services Access Card. The Taskforce has released Report Number 1 and the Government has released its Response to the Report.

The Taskforce Report is informed by the views of 120 representative groups including the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Federal Police, and over 100 public submissions, most of which have been authorised for inclusion on the Taskforce website (www.humanservices.gov.au/access/consumer_privacy_taskforce.htm).

The Consumer and Privacy Taskforce will continue to consult on the design and development of the Access Card. The Taskforce has also undertaken considerable research internationally to inform its advice to Government.

The Office of Access Card has established a strong governance framework, including the Secretaries Group on the Access Card, the Deputy Secretaries Group on the Access Card, the Access Card Steering Committee and a range of specialist cross government working groups. The ATO and AFP actively participate in a number of these groups.

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