The attorney general of the Australian Capital Territory has said a new facial matching capability linked to government agencies would give police “unprecedented and extraordinary” access to personal information.Simon Corbell made his remarks while meeting with his state and federal counterparts in Canberra on Thursday during a meeting of police, justice and law ministers. He went on to express rejection of the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability database being proposed by the central government.In September, the government revealed plans for $18.5 million (US$13m) system called the Capability – short for The National Facial Biometric Matching Capability – which is due to be operational from mid next year. The national facial recognition system will provide a hub mechanism for agencies to launch queries against facial images recorded on passports, visas and driver's licences, with officials saying it will help tackle organised crime.It will operate on a “hub and spoke” system rather than a single database. Keenan said the program would operate under the Privacy Act 1988 and agencies would need to have legislative authority to collect and use facial images.”Parts of the commonwealth government's proposal, specifically around facial identification, will give law enforcement and other agencies an unprecedented and extraordinary level of access to biometric and biographical information,” the ACT minister said, reported The Guardian.”Of particular concern is the prospect that this data could be accessed by the private sector in the future, and potentially for a broad range of matters beyond the most serious of criminal matters. As it stands, such changes could be made without reference to any parliamentary oversight,” he said.”it is the ACT's view that wholesale population level comparison of facial images goes well beyond what is reasonable and proportionate in a free and democratic society.”In October, a senior Australian official said that authorities could use still images from social media in the new facial biometrics system.When questioned if there was any law that would prevent the system from ingesting photographs from publicly available sources like social media sites, Andrew Rice, the assistant secretary of the department, answered: “It's possible”.

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