The Liberal and Green opposition parties in South Australia's state government have voiced opposition to plans to give police mobile fingerprint scanners for identity checks.The parties have demanded that police make ask for traditional ID cards first, a step which the state government says would make the biometric checks pointless.The state government has trialled the devices and plans to buy 150 at a total cost of $3.4 million.It wants police to be able to stop people and compel them to have their prints scanned if they think that person has committed a crime, is about to do so, or can help in an investigation.Liberal MP Andrew McLachlan said it appeared police were seeking powers to “invade our privacy at will” under laws that “potentially signals the Orwellian future that awaits us”.Greens leader Mark Parnell has also described the plans as “Orwellian”. “Whether it's George Orwell or some other dystopian scientific future, these are the sort of laws that allow that to happen and the Greens will certainly be looking to make sure our police have sufficient powers but not too many powers,” he said, reports ABC.The Upper House vote has produced a deadlock between the two houses of State Parliament, and means police will not be able to use the machines until a compromise or backdown is secured.

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