Norway has had a single identity number for all citizens since 1964. It is a practical measure, not contested when implemented, nor controversial today. Here in Australia, Bob Hawke introduced The Australia Card in 1985, causing a double dissolution election two years later. It was ultimately defeated. Over the years, similar schemes have met the same fate, and now the debate rages over My Health Record. What are we so afraid of?
On the odd occasion that I need to access my bank account or a government service back in the country I left 30 years ago, I do so using 11 digits comprising my birth date and a serial number. Plus a secure two-factor authentication system using a dongle or a mobile phone. It is a centralised service owned and run by the banks, tightly regulated.
Virtually every business and government agency in Norway use it as their primary online authentication method. Every adult over the age of 15 has access. It has over 4 million users, 75% of the population. The benefits go beyond being able to log onto online services. The common identifier also means that records about me, my affairs and my transactions are transparently available for the services that need them. The tax department has access to my bank records, who have access to my insurance records, who have access to my health records, etc. But only if I give them permission. Norway’s privacy laws provide good protection, there is little fear of misuse of the data, so hardly anyone refuses permission.
If you’re a law-abiding citizen, conduct your affairs above board, submit your tax returns, have a job or a pension, your data is entered once, and it is combined and matched when needed. If you have nothing to hide except the odd job on the side or making “hjemmebrent” (moonshine), your data is securely available to those that need it. Your workplace, home address and phone numbers are also publicly available. If you move or change anything, you update it in one place, and everyone that needs to, have instant access. It’s convenience made possible by the information technology revolution.
What do we think “they” will do with it? Why is answering a questionnaire from an insurance company or providing the same answers again and again preferable to entering it once and making it available to those that we give permission? Why is this so scary for so many?
The openness of Norwegian society goes much further, too. Everybody’s tax record is available online for anyone to see. If you want to find out who is driving the slick BMW parked in front of your gate, send a text with the rego to the Vehicle Authority and get the name of the owner back — it costs 50 cents.
The contrast extends to openness of government. In Norway, the governing principle of freedom of information laws is that information is available unless exempted (which is limited to issues strictly related to national security). This is in stark contrast to here in Australia where everything the government does seems to be covert unless the information is specifically requested. And even then, government ministers and the bureaucrats will fight tooth and nail to avoid releasing it.
The government don’t trust us, and we don’t trust the government. And not just the government. Australians have a deep distrust of institutions, including big corporations. We used to trust the church, but not after the royal commission into child abuse. We used to trust the banks; now they too, are being exposed for their dishonest ways. Funny thing is, though, we generally trust each other. There is hope in that, even if we won’t give each other a number.
The depth, consistency and access to data in Norway means that there is no longer need for a census; the Norwegian ABS equivalent has all the meta-data it needs. The last census in Norway was in 2011.
So why are we so afraid Down Under?
Kim Wingerei is a former businessman, turned writer, blogger and commentator; passionate about free speech, democracy and the politics of change. He is the author of Why Democracy is Broken — A Blueprint for Change.
27 thoughts on “Why are Australians so afraid of My Health Record?”
Ng GJB
August 11, 2018 at 10:26 amSounds like a stalkers paradise, I’m sure you’d think differently if you were the focus of someone’s personality disordered obsession.
Warwick Davis
August 11, 2018 at 4:26 pmThe Australia Card legislation was not actually defeated, it was not proceeded with after a stage in the process. From memory of the Canberra Times report, a retired public servant identified a fault in the legislation and claimed it could not be done. A great shame it was not pursued, in my opinion, as the flexibility of identity for Australians facilitates the black market economy, which has in my experience, only expanded with the GST.
I share the author’s bewilderment: what are we afraid of? Who cares if the world knows I have had an ingrown toenail. I see a few medical matters which might be sensitive for females but that can surely be solved by using codes to refer to all medical procedures.
We should be very concerned about the security of the nation if we cannot provide thief proof security for the simple records of name and address, alongside the boring details of medical history.
AR
August 11, 2018 at 6:28 pmFascinating that someone uses the old trope, “if you’ve nothing to hide…” unironically!
Such touching faith in the beneficence of government, never mind its competence.
Bob the builder
August 11, 2018 at 9:21 pmNot to mention: What if you do have something to hide?
Or is going to be illegal now to have secrets?
AR
August 12, 2018 at 5:58 pmYep. Hence the push for a cashless economy.
Colin Mathers
August 12, 2018 at 12:25 amObviously, because unlike Norway, Australia is run by politicians who do not respect privacy and misuse for political ends private information collected in databases . Crikey has documented a number of these events in recent months, as well as the continuing erosion of safeguards against broad surveillance of everyone.
Dog's Breakfast
August 13, 2018 at 11:02 amYou have been out of the country a while, haven’t you Kim.
Why are we so scared – well, wrong question, it isn’t fear, but you’ve answered it here.
“Norway’s privacy laws provide good protection, there is little fear of misuse of the data.”
Here, we have incompetent governments, a public sector that has been outsourced to consultants who can’t catch a break on anything computer related, a government that insists that everything it does and says must be kept secret and everything a citizen does or says must be kept available for governments who are then likely to give it to others without asking, without thinking, and usually for commercial gain.
We have the worst of all possible governments/public sectors, principally because that is the end game of neoliberalism. Make them incompetent and ineffective and it’s just like they aren’t there.
Norway has the best of all possible worlds and understands the difference. It isn’t fear, it’s an abject acceptance of reality that this government isn’t capable, and doesn’t deserve our support in any of its endeavours.
Kim Wingerei
August 13, 2018 at 8:38 pmDon’t disagree with that. It’s not all rosy in Norway, either, but here in Australia it seems respect for Government in general, and politicians in particular is on a race towards the bottom. There is a desperate need for reform.
Altakoi
December 20, 2018 at 10:54 amWe’re afraid that the Australian Government is nowhere near as competent or publicly minded as that of Norway. Where’s the sovereign wealth fund from our minerals boom? The investment in public education, research, healthcare? Australian Governments have shown a propensity of recent times to view data as a means to brutalise the population in the service of national security and/or corporate surveillance. We had legislation to stop people watching game of thrones too early, and so on. Norway is one of the best governed countries on the planet, we are barely keeping the lights on. That’s the difference.