Australian pols giddy with state and federal integration over digital ID

Australia’s efforts to get digital IDs into people’s hands shows, even winning over snarky journalists with the progress.

Almost 80 percent of drivers in the state of New South Wales have a digital version of their driver’s license, according to reporting by NFCW, a business technology publication.

The state’s outgoing minister for customer service and digital government, Victor Dominello, reportedly called a media conference to crow over a notable government accomplishment. About 4.4 million NSW adults – out of 5.6 million adults – have made a digital ID for themselves.

And they did so on the Service NSW app, designed to grease access to government programs and services.

The federal government, meanwhile, is working to enable driver licenses integrated with its own service app, myGov. At the same time, leaders are preparing to make digital national health care card data available on the Service NSW app.

The integrations have been in the works since the fall of 2021, according to NFCW.

It apparently is an unusual digital confluence.

An analysis of the news in public-sector reporter The Mandarin states that the two governments “are showing dangerous signs of interoperability after the federal government finally acknowledged it might be able to learn something.”

That sarcasm insufficiently arch?

It apparently is “a previously unheard-of outbreak of conspicuous cooperation” between state and federal governments.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  driver's license  |  identity verification  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  mobile app