australian i.d card maybe???

http://au.news.yahoo.com//050530/2/uja9.html
Saturday July 16, 05:29 PM

PM puts ID card firmly back on agenda
Prime Minister John Howard has defended plans for a national identity card against accusations it would compromise people's freedoms.

Heightened terrorism concerns following the London bombings and the release of a damning report into immigration detention after one woman was mistakenly detained and another wrongly deported have reignited debate on an ID card.

After the government last week firmly ruled out such a prospect, Mr Howard has put it back on the agenda.

He said the sacrifice of some personal liberties was sometimes necessary.

"Whenever you take measures to tighten the law or to require of citizens the availability of more information about them, it could be argued you are affecting their rights," Mr Howard told reporters shortly after arriving in Washington for a four day visit.

"It's a balance any democratic society requires - a constant readjustment of that balance.

"If you look at it just as a civil liberties issue you would never change anything.

"If you just looked at it as a protection against terrorism issue, you would authorise many changes that people would regard as unacceptable."

Mr Howard opposed a Hawke Labor government plan for an Australia Card in 1987.

But he said last week's terrorist attacks in London, which killed 54 people, including Melbourne man Sam Ly, had demonstrated the need for the identity card issue to be debated again.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, who last week dismissed the idea of an ID card, changed tune and backed Mr Howard's comments.

"It's something we will be examining ... the government cannot afford to be complacent," he said.

At a security conference in Sydney on June 29, he said a national ID card could actually make it easier for criminals wanting to create false identities because they would only need to falsify a single document.

Labor says the government is confusing the public.

"The Australian public would be forgiven for thinking that the government doesn't know whether it's Arthur or Martha on the question of national ID cards," international security spokesman Kevin Rudd said.

Although the opposition has promised to consider an ID card, Labor's homeland security spokesman Arch Bevis this week expressed concern about overreacting to the terrorist threat.

"The reality is that terrorists can kill and maim and cause massive destruction to property but only we, through an ill-conceived response to terrorism, can destroy our institutions and our values as a community," he said.

Meanwhile, Vivian Alvarez, who was wrongly deported to the Philippines four years' ago, says she should get more government assistance than she's been offered.

Mr Howard this week apologised to her and to wrongfully detained Cornelia Rau over the immigration department's handling of their cases.

Ms Alvarez said the apology was "nice", but she was sad the offer of assistance didn't go further.

She said she feared she could be dead within six months and the government would not support her family in Australia beyond that time.

"I don't know that I will still be around in six months," she said in a statement.

"I could be dead in six months ... if I die in the Philippines, my children will never be able to afford to visit my grave.

"They are so very young. It will take a long time for them to raise enough money for (the) airfare."