Viewing Information on the Access Card

See also information on Protection of Privacy; Information Security; and Disclosure of Information in the Register to Law Enforcement Agencies.

When a card holder uses their card to access a service or benefit only authorised people will be able to see the information on the chip, and only the information that is relevant to that transaction. (See information on Protection of Privacy; and Information Security.)

Information on the chip

When a person attends the office of one of the four participating agencies—Centrelink, Medicare Australia, Child Support Agency and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA)—the only information which will be able to be viewed from the card’s chip is:

• the card holder’s name and photo (also visible on the surface of the card);
• the card number and the card expiry date (also on the surface of the card), and
• confirmation that the customer has a record with that specific agency.

Health providers such as doctors and pharmacists will be able to view the following information on the card’s chip:

• the card holder’s name;
• the card’s expiry date;
• a Medicare or Reciprocal Health Care card number;
• the card holder’s organ donor status (if recorded);
• a list of any concession cards, and pharmaceutical or medical benefit cards relevant to that person. This information shows that the person is entitled to a concession or DVA benefit or service. If a person does not have an entitlement to any of these benefits, these fields will be blank; and
• if the person is a DVA white card holder, the International Classification of Diseases Code matches the condition available for treatment on the basis of the DVA white card.

In cases where the access card is presented to a concession provider such as another Commonwealth agency, state, territory or local government, or private sector concession provider, the information which provides evidence of a card holder’s concession entitlements, will be able to read from the chip. This is consistent with the current situation where such information is visible on existing concession cards.

Residential address information will not be recorded on the chip unless it is currently useable on an existing concession or benefit cards.

Concession providers will be able to view the following information on the card chip:

• the card holder’s name;
• the access card number and expiry date; and
• information of any concession or benefit cards relevant to that person.

PIN protection

Certain data fields, such as legal name and proof of identity status included in the chip can be protected by a PIN.

Access to the register

Information provided by people when they are issued an access card will be stored on the secure Register.

Doctors, pharmacists, other Commonwealth agencies, state, territory and local government, third party or private sector concession providers and any other organisations such as banks, will not have access to the Register.

Only those people with a legitimate operational purpose will be given approval for access to the Register, for example if an update to the card holder’s change of address is being made. Access to information on the Register will be governed by Information Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988, and the secrecy provisions in the access card legislation.

All access to customer records, including card transactions, will be logged and audited. Severe penalties will apply to inappropriate access to the Register. These include heavy fines and up to two years imprisonment.

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