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It has been like that for at least 8 years, and probably longer. There are still stalls at airports, but you must provide ID.

Interesting. Seems like this isn't very consistently enforced, then.

You may have bought the sim card but never activated it. It's not the device itself that is restricted, just using it.

It's been like this since at least the late 90s, I remember having to fill out the paperwork manually when working at Target

It used to be that you did the ID check when you bought the SIM, but now you have to do the ID check when you activate it.

The current ID verification requirements for phones were introduced to Australia in 1997

You can buy the SIM but can’t activate it without going through ID checks.