Stepping Stones: Digital ID System

Australia’s new Digital Identity system would give tyrannical politicians ‘total control’

Monica Smit

It sounds bland enough. According to the Australian federal government, the proposed bill to have a Digital Identity system, which is to apply to everyone, is necessary because “effective governance of the system is essential to the efficient operation of, and instilling public trust and confidence in, the system.” 

Problem is, the Australian government has lost all credibility. Over the last two years of the “pandemic,” Australian governments have shown that they cannot be trusted even to protect fundamental democratic institutions, basic human rights – especially the right to health privacy – and the independent rule of law.  

For a large part of the population, confidence in government has evaporated – and rightly so. Politicians and government bureaucrats have demonstrated repeatedly that they do not serve the people. Instead, they issue orders and punish anyone who disobeys. In most parts of the country, failure to accede to mandates to get injected with an experimental gene therapy means being locked out of society and losing employment. In what sense is this “effective governance”? 

The digital ID concept is not new. In the 1980s, Bob Hawke’s Labor Government pushed hard to introduce Identity Card legislation but it was defeated. It is more important to resist it this time around. Digital systems can allow total control over everything a citizen does. In the first instance it would include healthcare and extend the use of the already appalling Covid-19 digital certificates that are needed to get into venues and most workplaces.  

It will not stop there. A digital identity will allow all telecommunications to be monitored and control access to government services, social media, financial services, and travel. Total power, in other words.  

The proposal would be bad enough if Australian governments and the public service more or less served the public most of the time. Creating a digital ID system that has the potential to be abused at some point would still not be a risk worth taking. The government’s claims that it would lead to more “efficient operation”, or allow it to crack down on black market activity, are, at best, benefits that do not outweigh the risks. The benefits are minor, couched in the usual meaningless management jargon used by governments to hide more insidious intentions. The truth is that digital IDs offer more control, and that is what governments find impossible to resist. 

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