A question asked by Senator Stott Despoja of the Deputy Secretary, Office of Access Card during a Senate Estimates hearing has resulted in the Minister for Human Services, Senator Ellison, changing information on the Access Card website to provide more accurate information.

Under the heading "Based on tried and tested technology" the website referred to three overseas cards: from Austria, Taiwan, and the Lombardia region in Italy, implying that they had biometric photographs.

Senator Stott Despoja evaluated the content and found that the three examples listed on the website were all projects that were rolled out without biometric photographs.

"We pointed out to the Minister during Senate Estimates how the Australian public might be misled into thinking that the overseas smart card examples cited on the website had included a photograph," Democrats' Attorney-General's Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.

In response, the Minister has agreed to insert into the heading the term smartcard technology. Minister Ellison said: "Some could argue that they think it refers to the biometrics mentioned in preceding paragraphs" (p116, Finance and Public Administration Committee Estimates Hansard).

"Given the reintroduction of the revised Access Card legislation is only a matter of weeks away, it is important that the Australian public is well informed and not misinformed about what may be the single biggest privacy invasion in our history," Senator Stott Despoja said.