The government’s already been found out in spreading misinformation about its digital ID bill. Last week the minister in this place claimed the bill had nothing to do with digital identity when in fact their own bill is called the Digital ID Bill 2023; it’s in the title, so I think I might have something to do with digital ID!
Minister Katy Gallagher followed up on the weekend on Twitter, or X now, and said:
Digital ID is not compulsory.
It’s a voluntary, secure & convenient way for you to access online services safely without having your personal documents stored by 3rd parties.
She has failed again and has now been revealed to be spreading more misinformation because Community Notes, readers of X, have put a note up—and it’s been accepted by X—saying, ‘The minister might be wrong here, because labelling digital ID as voluntary can be misleading if it becomes an implicit requirement for essential services.’ They’re exactly right.
Whatever the government say about their bill being voluntary—do you remember when they said the vaccine would be voluntary? Some people today still claim that no-one was ever made to get a vaccine, that you didn’t need to have a job, that you didn’t need to go and eat out, that you could have just got the vaccine instead, that it was your choice to get the vaccine. I remember that. They all said it was voluntary. Now they’re saying a digital ID is voluntary. You should be very careful about the weasel words used by politicians. Their own bill, in section 74, says you can’t use a digital ID to make people access a service. Then, later, in section 74(4), it says that the minister can exempt people from that requirement if it is—wait for it—appropriate to do so.
Where is this all headed? You can either trust the politicians that tell you it’s voluntary or you can think back about how you’ve been treated the last few years by those very politicians. Don’t believe a word they say. Oppose this digital ID and oppose this expansion of government oversight. We’re a free country, and we should remain that way.
