Australia's Digital Identity Bill - June 2024

Our connected world is very convenient. The things that you can do with your phone were unthinkable just twenty or so years ago. For example, I have a very handy banking app. Not only can I get instant account balances, I can check upcoming regular transactions, past transactions, I can even apply for a loan on my phone. I can suspend my cards if I lose my wallet, or suspect that there’s something nefarious going on. I am also able to self-restrict my own purchasing. Not just “how much” I spend, but what I spend my money on. I can ban my own spending on things like gambling, or overseas purchases, should I wish. Good idea, isn’t it?! At least one other Australian bank has taken their app a little further. It actually calculates how much Carbon emissions your purchases are responsible for. Handy for those who want to keep track of their personal carbon footprint. My boss recently bought himself a new ute. From his phone he can track the vehicle's information, things like engine temperature and fuel level. He can even start and stop the engine from his phone, from anywhere he might be, regardless of distance of separation, as long as there is an internet connection. If someone was to borrow (or steal) his ute, he can track it from his phone in real time. The Australian Digital ID Bill passed the Senate several weeks ago, with Lower House approval passing it into law on the 16th of May, and will take effect around November 2024. For a couple of months now, government advertising about Digital ID has reached my social media pages. (It’s probably on TV and radio, too). Promises like ‘A faster, easier way to prove your identity’ or ‘You are in control’, and ‘Private and secure’ have been suggested. Promises to make your interactions with the Government quicker, streamlined, and all available from your computer or phone. And anyone who has dealt with the government knows, it’s not all that smooth and easy! A digital ID will also make fraud against the government (and possibly private entities) more difficult. For example, the Australian social security system is always getting milked by fraudulent actors with multiple identities. A Digital ID will make such fraud much more difficult to achieve. Of course, our government is not just a single monolithic entity. It is an organism made up of a multitude of departments and bureaucracies all working in separate areas of specialisation. As well as that, there’s three layers of government in Australia: Commonwealth, State and Local (council). The digital ID technology promises to inter-connect your interactions across all levels, departments and sub-departments of government. In my opinion, the allure of time-saving convenience comes with a completely unacceptable price. That is, a certainty that almost every human right and freedom that we take for granted WILL be violated as this system of convenience becomes a system of control. Control over you. I suspect that the use of this technology will not only make it easier for you to deal with the government, but also for the government to deal with you, in any way that it seems fit. There’s no way that the Governmental use of this Digital ID use could become nefarious, is there? And there’s no way that this database can be hacked, revealing so much more of your personal details, ready to be sold to the highest bidder, is there? With recent hacks of massive databases including Optus and Medicare, your personal data needs to be more highly secured. Data breaches like this typically divulge your personal information including banking details, passwords, addresses and health/medical history. In my opinion, if Medicare can be hacked, so can your Digital ID. Our idiotic government, both the current Albanese crowd and the stupid Morrison mob before it, take their clues from the World Economic Forum in Davos. (Refresh your memory about these clowns HERE). The WEF has a page called How digital identity can improve lives in a post-COVID-19 world . I trust these guys about as far as I could comfortably spit a dead rat. The page outlines their vision for Digital ID as the key to unlock your access to purchases, to travel, to financial services including banking and investments, to medical services, and government services. Every aspect of your life, your credit and debit cards, your business relationships, your health records, your phone records, your accounts with businesses and utilities… even your social media profile will all be linked and controlled by the Digital ID framework. Now, if the last few years during and after covid has taught us anything, it’s this: anything that the government can see, they can control. And when they can see every aspect of your life… you can lose personal autonomy and control of your own life. In January 2022, Canadian truckers, fed up with the problem of not being allowed to work (because of illogical and tyrranical Covid mandates), assembled in Ottawa to protest government overreach. All the truckies wanted to do was work and provide. Something like 50,000 trucks turned up. Along with several thousand vehicles with family and supporters who braved the freezing cold snow. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, the gutless narcissistic tyrant, did what you would expect and declared himself Covid Positive and fled the city. But not before he labelled the truckers as “extremists”, “unacceptable”, “fringe” and even “terrorists”. Not that you’d know any of the above. The legacy media refused to report on the protest, and when they did, they downplayed numbers and misrepresented what the truckers actually wanted. The CBC reported 500 trucks, the Ottawa police said 5,000. Of course, even though their trucks were parked up, the truckers themselves needed fuel for their rigs to keep the motors running and keep the sleeper cabs warm. So after some time of panic, the weasel Mr Trudeau ordered the suspension of the truckers bank accounts which meant they were unable to buy food, fuel, or make any kind of payments including their own mortgages.Weather you sympathise with the truckers or not, consider for a moment what it means to have a government take control of your personal banking! The citizens of the greater (global) community rallied,and raised funds via services such as Go Fund Me, which the Canadian Government also egregiously seized. Money in the order of $10 million was unable to reach the intended recipients. Around most of the world, mainly in Western Democracies like ours, during Covid, the people that chose to refuse the jabs were unable to travel, visit a hospital, go shopping or even buy a coffee. In some cases, the unjabbed were not allowed to work and earn their living. The enforcement of these draconian rules entailed, of course, the previously unthinkable act of being asked for your personal medical details from people who, in any other world, had no business in knowing such personal things. So, what does all of this mean for us, you and I? The government has promised ("trust us") that the digital ID will be a free choice, with accreditation and participation being totally optional. Personally, I don’t trust them. It is only a matter of (short) time before those of us that decide to not sign up to the digital ID are ostracised from society. Those that choose to not have a digital ID will have an incremental but increasing amount of trouble accessing everyday government services, social security and pensions, and, as the program rolls out into the private sector, everyday business and even your accessing superannuation. This is how they will bully you into the system. Sort of like how supermarkets bully you into using self serve checkout by reducing the availability of serviced registers. In the event of another emergency (such as a pandemic, or even a "climate emergency"), those that don’t comply with government dictates will face hardships that make Covid restrictions look trivial. There will be no hiding your personal medical details from anyone who is given the right to access them. Even your favourite barista. Remember above how I said that an Australian banking app can track your carbon footprint? Well, under the digital ID framework, so will the government.The declaration of a “climate emergency” under any other name will see restrictions (imposed by government, not yourself), on how much carbon you emit. Too much red meat? Bought too much fuel? Use too much electricity? Consumed too much alcohol? Eaten out too often? Buying too much high-energy input foods? Expect restrictions on your accounts on what you can spend on what and where. It can be done, and it has been done! On top of that, all of your data will now be in one place. Your income and tax information, your medical/health information, your banking information, your business account information, your family information, medicare, licences, tickets, investments, political affiliation, club memberships, rates and land tax, property details, insurance… all in one place. All available to hacking, identity theft, information theft, financial theft and No. Digital Identity is a bad idea. Very, very bad idea. More Here. For the record, the digital ID Bill was formulated by the Liberal Party while in Government. It was supported by Labor and then passed under the Labor Government. Nothing will change until we change the way we vote.