The Australian government is moving towards greater use of
biometrics to prevent identity theft which costs A$1.1 billion
(C$906 million) annually, the federal Attorney General Philip
Ruddock said today.
Addressing the Biometrics Institute's annual conference in
Sydney, Ruddock said the Council of Australian Governments has
agreed to investigate how biometric security measures could be
adopted by all the state's and territories.
This is part of the National Identity Security Strategy which
aims to strengthen existing identity processes and to make sure
procedures are consistent across the country.
It supports the establishment of a national A$28.3 million
Document Verification Service announced in the recent federal
budget. "We need to beat criminals at their own game and biometric
identification can help us do this," Ruddock said.
And while everyone has a right to privacy, Ruddock said, "There
can be no greater invasion of a person's privacy than the theft of
their identity". He said one challenge with biometric use is the
lack of consistent standards.
"Closed and proprietary biometric solutions mean that standards
are developing in different ways and there is a lack of
interoperability across government agencies," Ruddock said.
"This is inefficient and creates increased cost; this is an
issue we will examine in the development of the Australian
Government Biometrics Framework."
Initiatives currently being undertaken by the government include
the introduction of a Human Services smartcard - called Access
Card, the use of e-Passports and an automated border processing
system known as SmartGate at Australian airports.
SmartGate, which is a face recognition system for border
control, will be introduced in Australian international airports
next year.
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