New South Wales Attorney General Greg Smith proposed Thursday limiting the number of times an Australian could legally change name. He wants to limit it to three times and to impose as well tougher requirements in a bid to prevent criminals from hiding from the law.

The limit is part of a 10-point plan Smith submitted to state and territory ministers at Thursday's meeting of the Standing Council on Law and Justice in Launceston, Tasmania.

"You often find that people use other people's identity to commit frauds. Some of them do it without registering. They may acquire somebody else's licence or proofs of identity. Sometimes they obtain false identity through taking people's names off gravestones," he told ABC News.

He included in the proposal the establishment of a national document verification system to help detect fake identity documents and paperwork.

Convicted sex offenders would be required to secure approval from government agencies before they could change their name. The sex offenders and other individuals considered high-risk would be included in a registry to be maintained by the police.

"The danger is heightened when you are talking about those convicted to serious crimes, such as pedophiles, moving interstate to escape detection and unleash their misery on unfortunate victims," he added.

Smith said most of these rules are already in place in New South Wales, but he pushed for national application to ensure that criminals who change names would no longer find it an easy procedure by just moving to another Australian state where rules are laxer.

"Inconsistencies between jurisdictions allow people to forum-shop and find the place with the weakest safeguards," Smith pointed out.