MP calls for DNA database

FEBRUARY 07, 2005

THE case of a mentally ill woman who was locked up for 10 months
showed the need for a national DNA database, a federal Liberal
backbencher said.

North Queensland Liberal MP Peter Lindsay today repeated his call 
for DNA samples to be taken from all Australians and entered into 
a national database.

He first proposed the idea in 2001 but outraged civil libertarians
attacked the idea.

Mr Lindsay today said Australian woman Cornelia Rau might never have
been held at South Australia's Baxter immigration detention centre if
authorities could have checked her details against a DNA database.

"I want the DNA database debate renewed in the light of the Cornelia
Rau incident," he said. 

"I want the many benefits of a national database again considered by
the community and governments."

Mr Lindsay said such a database could also have been useful to
identify the Australian victims of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.

Currently, Australia only has a DNA database set up in Canberra to
record details of convicted criminals.

Mr Lindsay said Australians should not be concerned about the security
of such databases, saying they were just another form of a medical
record.

(snip)

AAP 
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Full article at Australian IT ...
australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12172177%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html


Cheers, Steve...

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