Tamworth resident Stephen Bright has written the following letter to member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson. This is what he said.
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On the evening TV news last week, there was a story about identity theft.
Many of the victims in the story had suffered identity theft as a result of stolen mail (despite the fact that their letterbox was locked).
In the following days after that story, there was another news item reporting that NSW Police had busted a well-organised identity-theft gang in Sydney.
In one of the stories, the head of the NSW police fraud section gave advice on measures that people should employ to avoid having their identity stolen.
The advice that he gave included:
1. Always lock your letterbox (even though this didn’t protect some of the victims in the story);
2. Ask your bank not to send debit/credit cards in the mail, but ask to pick them up personally from the local bank branch; and
3. Most importantly, never ever have photo IDs sent in the mail.
My understanding is that the NSW government is now posting NSW drivers licences to the licence holder’s home address, rather than issuing the licence “on the spot”, as was previously the case.
I understand that the reason is a supposed cost saving of having the licences printed at one central location rather than at individual motor registries.
Can you please answer the following questions:
1. Why is the NSW government going against its own head of the NSW police fraud section’s instruction to never, ever send photo IDs in the mail?
2. Are the photo licences being sent by registered post and if not, why not?
3. What provision has the NSW government made for compensation to NSW residents who have their posted photo licence stolen and suffer identity theft?
4. What options do I have to request that my photo licence not be posted (in accordance with the government’s own expert advice)?
I appreciate that an election is looming; however, I would appreciate your prompt reply.
I voted for you at the last election (after previously having voted for Peter Draper) but with the NSW government’s stance on the mining threat to our agricultural water supplies and the absurdity of selling the infrastructure of an “essential” government service, I honestly don’t know how I will vote.