The Introduction of a national ID card would give the Federal Government a useful plug for a 'sticky loop-hole'.

That is according to Central Queensland University specialist on public policy and ethics, Dr Robert Kelso, who said it was debatable if the additional benefits would outweigh the added costs.

Dr Kelso said Government departments had been illegally swapping and cross-matching personal records for many years.

“The misuse of tax-file numbers for purposes other than taxation, such as for Social Security and Child Support Agency payments, has been criticised in a number of parliamentary inquiries but the practice has never been stopped.

"So really the national ID card would help plug what has become a sticky loop-hole by legitimising what is already going on," he said.

“Current privacy legislation and so-called privacy watchdogs have been demonstrable failures.” Dr Kelso said that, in these days of data-mining, cross-matching and on-selling of personal details, it will be interesting for a debate about 'who really owns your personal information?'.

He said the ease by which criminals could reproduce electronic cards, just as with credit cards, could also increase the instances of identity fraud.