A National Identification Card is in
contradiction to the philosophies of the Liberal
Party, according to Christopher Pyne, federal parliamentary
secretary for health and aging. An article in The Australian today says: “Mr Pyne said
a national ID card would not have stopped the London bombings or the September 11 strikes
because the attackers were not expecting to return from their missions and were
not trying to hide their identities.”

However, in a
special Morgan Poll conducted last week it was revealed that a large majority of
Liberal Party supporters (70%) agreed with the National Identification Card.
Only 22% of Liberal supporters opposed the card, with 7%
undecided. Liberal party
voters were more inclined to support the introduction of the National
Identification Card than ALP supporters, of whom only 60% agreed with the
introduction of the card (35% opposed, 5%
undecided).

Based on
these findings, Pyne’s assertion that “it’s a big government idea that is
basically mightily offensive to liberal and conservative traditions in the
Liberal Party,” might not be entirely true. Clearly, a majority of Liberal
supporters don’t find the idea offensive.

Read the full
article on the Henry Thornton website.