Australia's proposed ID card: Still quacking like a duck

In 2006 the Australian government began to debate its ideas for the possible domestic introduction of what it called a ‘health and social services access card’. Apparently mindful of the demise of original proposals in the 1980s for an ‘Australia Card’ that was firmly rejected by the people of Australia at the time, the government has strongly denied that the present debate is really about a new national ID card for Australia. This paper looks into the history of this discussion and suggests that, call it what you will, the ID card issue is now very clearly back on the agenda.