The Bill provides that
The Secretary of the Department may develop and operate:
(a) the interoperability hub, which relays electronic communications between bodies and persons requesting and providing identity‑matching services; and
(b) the NDLFRS, which includes a database of identification information from State and Territory authorities and may be used to provide identity‑matching services.
The Department may collect identification information through the interoperability hub or NDLFRS for any of the following purposes:
(a) providing or developing identity‑matching services for identity or community protection activities;
(b) developing, operating or maintaining the NDLFRS;
(c) protecting the identities of persons who have legally assumed identities or are under witness protection.
The Department may use or disclose for any of those purposes information so collected (regardless of the purpose for which it was collected). Generally, identity‑matching services involve requests for electronic comparison of identification information about an individual to identify the individual, verify the individual’s identity, check whether the individual has more than one State or Territory government identification document of a particular kind, or manage identification information about the individual in the NDLFRS.
Identity or community protection activities mostly relate to identity‑related fraud, law enforcement, proceeds of crime, security and safety. Persons who work for the Department, and contractors whose duties relate to the interoperability hub or the NDLFRS, may commit an offence for unauthorised disclosure or recording of certain information held in, generated using or relating to the interoperability hub or the NDLFRS. The Minister must report to Parliament annually on the use of most of the identity‑matching services.Section 5(1) of the Bill, dealing with identification information, provides
(1) Identification information about an individual (whether living, dead, real or fictitious) is any of the following:
(a) a name by which the individual is or has been known;
(b) a current or former address of the individual;
(c) the place or date the individual was born;
(d) the age of the individual (whether expressed by reference to a range or not);
(e) the current or former sex, gender identity or intersex status of the individual;
(f) information about whether the individual is alive or dead;
(g) any information that is: (i) contained in a driver’s licence (however described) issued by or on behalf of an authority of a State or Territory in a name of the individual; or (ii) otherwise associated with the licence by the authority;
(h) any information that is: (i) contained in any other licence (however described), or any document issued to assist the individual to prove his or her age or identity, that contains a photograph purporting to be of the individual and is issued by or on behalf of an authority of a State or Territory in a name of the individual; or (ii) otherwise associated with such a licence or document by or on behalf of the authority;
(i) any information that is: (i) contained in a document issued to the individual, as a person who is not a Australian citizen, by the Department administered by the Minister administering the Migration Act 1958 to assist the individual to prove his or her identity; or (ii) otherwise associated with such a document by that Department;
(j) any information that is: (i) contained in an Australian travel document (within the meaning of the Australian Passports Act 2005), or a foreign travel document (within the meaning of the Foreign Passports (Law Enforcement and Security) Act 2005), issued in the name of the individual; or (ii) otherwise associated with the Australian travel document by the Minister administering the Australian Passports Act 2005 or the Department administered by that Minister; or (iii) otherwise associated with the Australian travel document or foreign travel document by an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory by which the travel document may be inspected or seized under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;
(k) the individual’s current or former citizenship;
(l) information about a visa the individual holds or held;
(m) a facial image of the individual, a biometric template derived from such an image or a result of biometric comparison involving such an image;
(n) any information that is prescribed by the rules and relates to the individual.
