I would have to disagree that this is not driven by the government. This approach -- which has significant privacy defects -- is very much driven by a desire to

I would have to disagree that this is not driven by the government. This approach -- which has significant privacy defects -- is very much driven by a desire to have centralised control. It is quite possible them to think that they are the best people to have this data, and that they will manage it best, despite evidence to the contrary. You have to understand that none of the senior officials have any desire but to please the politicans, and they are all extremely risk averse. They have a long history of covering up mistakes, breaches of the ministerial code of conduct and their own maladministration, so citizen privacy isn't even on their list of concerns.