NSW and federal governments partner on digital IDs

Service NSW and Services Australia have agreed to support each others’ digital ID efforts.

The NSW government will modify its Services NSW app to carry digital Medicare cards, while the federal government will let myGov users add their digital driver’s licence to the wallet.

The arrangement was announced yesterday by NSW minister for digital and customer service Victor Dominello and federal minister for government services Bill Shorten.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Dominello said the digital driver’s licence had 80 percent uptake among NSW residents.

That in turn has driven high uptake of the Service NSW app, needed as the wallet for the driver's licence.

Dominello said he wanted to give customers an option to store multiple government credentials inside a single digital wallet.

“We need to empower people and this way we break down the silos, not just between insider government agencies but between federal and state governments," Dominello said.

"This is a really big step forward for digital infrastructure in this country.”

Shorten said he expected more states and more services to follow.

“I'm optimistic that if we can demonstrate by leadership between NSW and the Commonwealth, people who live in other states are going to say, ‘Where's our digital driver's license and why can't put it on our app?’”

“Other forms of digital ID should be available, and I think that's where people want to go”, Shorten added.

“If [people] want their birth certificate on their Service NSW app, so be it,” Dominello said.

“If they want on their myGov app, so be it, if they want on both, so be it, if they want on their Google or Apple watch, provided the privacy and security settings are in place, so be it.”

Shorten said from the Commonwealth’s point of view, the change can be rolled out within myGov’s existing budget, and digital driver’s licence support will arrive no later than the third quarter of this year.

NSW is hoping to make changes on its end "by the end of the year, but at a stretched target early in the new year,” Dominello said, also within existing budget.

Dominello added that the agreement “is not just about moving credentials where people like, it's about setting up a framework to resolve some wrinkles in the digital system at the moment.”