Australia will not have a complulsory national ID card. The Prime Minister has announced Australia will have a new access card for health and welfare services.

The access card will replace 17 health and social services cards and vouchers across the Human Services portfolio.

The card will have the cardholder’s name, a digital photograph, their signature and card number. A microchip in the card will store a photo, address, date of birth and details of any children or other
dependants. The card will also provide cardholders with the option to voluntarily store other information such as emergency contact details, allergies, health alerts, chronic illnesses, immunisation information
and organ donor status. Information held on the access card will be subject to strict protections and will only be accessible by authorised people.

The access card will be phased in over a two year registration period beginning in 2008. From early 2010, people will only be able to obtain government health and social service benefits if they have an access card.

Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis response to the announcement was that the privacy rights of individuals needed to be respected:

it is essential that appropriate privacy protections are built in early, particularly into the system design of the access card and registration process, rather than trying to ‘bolt’ these on later…it will be important to ensure that as the proposal is developed the uses and safeguards are clearly identified and legislated. This will help to ensure that the Government’s intention that this not be a
national identity card is met.

UPDATE: How Queensland’s drivers licence smartcard compares. What it will look like.
What The Australian Privacy Foundation says.