The Federal Government is moving against the rising incidence of identity fraud, with Justice Minister Chris Ellison announcing a range of initiatives last week. With the estimated cost of identity fraud rising past $1.1 billion a year, he says tougher identification requirements and enhanced data-matching will be among the measures introduced.

Launching a report into the extent of identity fraud, Senator Ellison said the use of false or stolen identities “underpins fraudulent acts against governments, business and individuals and can also underpin terrorism, people-smuggling rackets and illegal immigration”.

The Government is now considering developing a common set of proof-of-identity documents “of higher integrity” for use by all its agencies, as well as an online document certification service and data-matching techniques to “cleanse” Government agencies’ registers.