The Victorian Council for Civil Liberties – which opposes the proposal, calling it is a national ID card – will host a public forum on the Access Card in Melbourne on Thursday.

Chaired by high-profile silk and Liberty president Julian Burnside, the meeting will include speeches from Labor Human Services spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek and Public Interest Advocacy Centre chief executive Robin Banks.

The meeting, which includes an address by Tim Warner, convener of the Access Card No Way campaign, is expected to be the first of a series of meetings around the country seeking to galvanise opponents of the card.

The billion dollar Access Card proposal seeks to replace 17 health and welfare cards – including the ubiquitous Medicare card – with single government smartcard.

The introduction of Access Card legislation to Parliament two weeks ago detailing how the card will function has set the scene for a long anticipated brawl between supporters of the card – who say it will make Government services more efficient – and those who oppose the initiative.

Advocacy groups like the Australian Privacy Foundation and Electronic Frontiers Australia say the Access Card is effectively a national identity card, and compared the proposal to the defeated 1987 Australia Card proposal.

Human Services Minister Ian Campbell dismisses the charge, saying the legislation introduced to Parliament provides for a penalty of five years jail for anyone demanding that the Access Card be produced for strictly identification purposes.

The proposal is understood to have already caused ructions within the Coalition party room among backbenchers concerned about privacy provisions in the legislation.

Labor has said it supports in principle the introduction of card that improves government services, but is concerned that the proposal has been rushed through without adequate privacy protections.