FED: Majority of Australians support ID card to fight terrorism

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2003
FED: Majority of Australians support ID card to fight terrorism

SYDNEY, Dec 28 AAP - Nearly two-thirds of Australians want a compulsory national identity
card to help combat the threat of terrorism, according to a survey.

Newspoll research conducted for The Sunday Telegraph found 60 per cent of Australians
supported the idea, in stark contrast to strong public opposition to a compulsory ID card
first raised by Bob Hawke's federal government during the 1980s.

But the threat of terrorism appears to have reversed public opinion, the newspaper said.

Polls conducted before the September 11 terrorist attacks indicated most people did
not want to be constrained by a national identity card.

According to the latest survey of 1,200 people across the country, the greatest support
for a compulsory ID card now comes from respondents aged over 50, with 71 per cent saying
they would back such a plan.

AAP gmw/sjb

KEYWORD: CARD

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