Law and Order Committee
For release: 14 September 2016

Enhancing Identity Verification and Border Processes Legislation Bill

This bill amends various statutes to provide for better information flows between the agencies in relation to personal information (including biometric information) to enable better identity verification of individuals for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting offences

The bill is a response to the Phillip Smith/Traynor Inquiry which called for “a step change in the way identity is verified and shared in the justice sector.” Under the bill identity would be based on unalterable information such as fingerprints and facial recognition rather than paper records and the bill would also give agencies access to the drivers’ licence photo database and birth, death and marriages information of offenders and mental health patients subject to the criminal justice system.

Parliament’s Law and Order Select Committee will now be considering the bill. Committee chairperson Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi encourages people with views on the legislation to share these with the committee. “It’s important that we hear the public’s views on this bill so that we can make well-informed decisions about what, if any, changes that are necessary to improve it.”

Have your say to the Law and Order Committee and tell them what you think
Send your submission on the bill by midnight on Wednesday 26 Oct 2016.

For more details about the bill, visit the Parliament website:
Enhancing Identity Verification and Border Processes Legislation Bill

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