Identity Verification Services Act 2023

Identification information is:

face‑matching service information; or

DVS information.

Face‑matching service information that relates to an individual (whether living, dead, real or fictitious) is any of the following, subject to subsections (4) and (5):

a name by which the individual is or has been known;

a current or former address of the individual;

the place or date the individual was born;

the age of the individual (whether expressed by reference to a range or not);

the current or former sex, gender identity or intersex status of the individual;

information about whether the individual is alive or dead;

any information that is:

contained in a driver’s licence (however described) issued by or on behalf of an authority of a State or Territory in a name of the individual; or

otherwise associated with such a licence by such an authority;

any information that is:

contained in any document (however described) that is issued by or on behalf of an authority of a State or Territory in a name of the individual, contains a photograph purporting to be of the individual and can be used to assist in proving the individual’s identity; or

otherwise associated with such a document by the authority;

any information that is:

contained in a document issued to the individual, as a person who is not an Australian citizen, by the Department administered by the Minister administering the Migration Act 1958 to assist the individual to prove the individual’s identity; or

otherwise associated with such a document by that Department;

any information that is:

contained in an Australian travel document (within the meaning of the Australian Passports Act 2005) issued in a name of the individual; or

otherwise associated with the Australian travel document by the Minister administering the Australian Passports Act 2005 or the Department administered by that Minister; or

otherwise associated with the Australian travel document by a government authority by which the travel document may be inspected or seized under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;

any information that is:

contained in a foreign travel document (within the meaning of the Foreign Passports (Law Enforcement and Security) Act 2005) issued in a name of the individual; or

otherwise associated with the foreign travel document by a government authority by which the travel document may be inspected or seized under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;

the individual’s current or former citizenship;

any information that is:

contained in a current or past application for Australian citizenship for the individual; or

contained in a document issued by an authority of the Commonwealth to provide evidence that the individual is or was an Australian citizen; or

otherwise associated with an application or document described in subparagraph (i) or (ii) by the Department administered by the Minister administering the Australian Citizenship Act 2007;

information about a visa, or an entry permit under the Migration Act 1958, that the individual holds or held;

any information that is:

contained in a current or past application for a visa, or entry permit, for the individual under the Migration Act 1958; or

contained in a visa, or entry permit, for the individual granted under that Act; or

otherwise associated with an application, visa or entry permit described in subparagraph (i) or (ii) by the Department administered by the Minister administering that Act;

a facial image of the individual, a biometric template derived from such an image or a result of biometric comparison involving such an image;

information about the outcome of a comparison involved in an FVS requested in relation to the individual.

DVS information that relates to an individual is either of the following, subject to subsections (4) and (5):

information (but not a facial image or biometric information) that either:

is contained in a document (the specimen document) that relates to the individual and purports to be a DVS document of a particular kind; or

is, or is reasonably expected to be, associated, with a DVS document of a particular kind relating to the individual, by a government authority that is responsible for the issue of DVS documents of that kind;

information about the outcome of a comparison involved in a DVS relating to the individual.

The following is neither face‑matching service information, nor DVS information, that relates to an individual:

information or an opinion that relates to the individual’s:

racial or ethnic origin; or

political opinions; or

membership of a political association; or

religious beliefs or affiliations; or

philosophical beliefs; or

membership of a professional or trade association; or

membership of a trade union; or

sexual orientation or practices; or

criminal record;

health information (within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988) that relates to the individual;

genetic information that relates to the individual.

Subsection (4) does not prevent information described in any of the paragraphs of subsection (2) or (3) from being face‑matching service information or DVS information if the information is not primarily of any of the kinds described in subsection (4), even if information of any of those kinds can reasonably be inferred from the information.

Even if an individual’s racial or ethnic origin can reasonably be inferred from the individual’s name or place of birth, this does not prevent the individual’s name or place of birth from being face‑matching service information or DVS information.

Even if an individual’s racial or ethnic origin or religious affiliations can reasonably be inferred from a facial image of the individual, this does not prevent the image from being face‑matching service information.

Identification information is taken to be personal information for the purposes of the Privacy Act 1988.