There was never, at any point prior to any of your elected terms, a request or approval by us, the citizens of Australia to use our tax payer dollars to fund “facial recognition technology” - that will track our face, gender, race and even the colour of our clothes.

The propensity for facial recognition technology (which encompasses the mining of our biometric data, as unique as our DNA) to endanger civil rights and civil liberties substantially outweighs its apparent benefits, and the technology will exacerbate racial injustice and threaten our ability to live free of continuous government monitoring.

We demand that:
1) Facial recognition technology in all its' forms (including the use of Briefcam or similar tech on main roads to track licence plates, and in public areas for the benefit of corporations and governing bodies to categorise and monetise the population) is banned within Australia
2) Any existing databases that are being held on free and law abiding Australian citizens relating to their facial or biometric data are deleted immediately 
3) Every city in Australia signs up to the international coalition of cities for Digital Rights (created by Barcelona, Amsterdam and New York City with the support of the United Nations Human Settlements Program, with an aim to protect, promote and monitor residents' and visitors' digital rights)
4) Local Councils and policing bodies commit to engaging the community in real evidence based methods of crime control, such as increasing police presence in any areas of major concern, giving real leadership roles and consultation pathways to community leaders and consulting with community groups as to their wants and needs - methods proven to reduce crime and boost community morale and cohesion.
5) Create a truly independent National body to monitor and champion privacy and digital rights for all free and law abiding citizens in Australia, and their children.

We do not Consent to the implementation or use of this technology in any form.
China has proven this technology is ripe for abuse, using algorithms to label people based on race or ethnicity, impinge on their individual freedoms, strike fear into peaceful protestors, then isolate and restrict the travel and freedoms of any persons not 100% in agreeance with government Propaganda (at best) - and this is when the technology is working. It has been shown to be inaccurate 34.7% of the time for dark skinned women, which opens the door to a multitude of consequences for women and people of colour who are in accurately identified and tracked. 

Consultation with the city and Australia in general has also been a farce. In 2015 the Australian Government announced a national facial recognition system -the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability or simply ‘The Capability’- would be implemented. This occurred with absolutely no public consultation or public announcement at the time.

There is no empirical evidence that supports the assertion that blanket surveillance is effective at preventing serious crime and terrorism either domestically or internationally - in fact if anything, these approaches almost always erode rights and diminish freedoms.
Security of our data is also a major concern. At a time when Australia’s federal government is consistently failing to protect centralised, interconnected databases (My Health Record, National Census, Centrelink to list just a few), it is extremely worrying to watch as we are sleep-walking into a world where our cities are becoming vulnerable, and ultimately so are we as individuals, to all types of security threats including breaches, leaks and hacking as well.

We, the undersigned also pledge to:

- VOTE any politicians not aligned to the above demands out the next election, no matter the relevant party, should these demands not be met

- Engage in litigation if required against cities and councils for impinging on our basics freedoms, rights and dignities

- Take any and all business to any town or venue outside any council areas supporting this technology, you will not have our ADDITIONAL funding to support this measure, or in any city where this technology is implemented. We also will not allow this technology to effect our kids whose movements and autonomy you have no right to track, utilise and sell without our explicit permission 

- Demand that OUR TAX PAYER FUNDED DOLLARS are put to the uses that we voted for: the environment, jobs, health care, education and protection of the vulnerable within our society, 

- Will protest using any and all means necessary until the facial recognition technology is removed from our home city.

We demand that you to heed the concerns outlined in this petition, and demand that our voted for politicians take a stand against this intrusive and abuse-riddled technology and make our towns, cities and country a “Facial recognition free” zone. 

** Follow “Australians against facial recognition technology” for updates and to sign paper petitions in your area and to use for your school (to prevent to categorisation and monetisation of our children's biometric data before they're old enough to consent for themselves).

Call and email your MP’s to express your concerns, attend city planning sessions, and join us in telling them: we do not consent. **