Digital credential sharing across states back on agenda for Services Australia

Australia has restarted its plan to make digital credentials shareable across state boundaries. The plan, which had been shelved since last year, got a fresh jumpstart in the form of a seven-week “rapid discovery exercise” staged between March and May 2024, according to a report from InnivationAus.com.

Discussions centered on the new Digital ID and Verifiable Credentials Strategy signed by states in June, which includes requirements to build and test sharing tools in line with ISO standards.

The exercise marked the first stage of an Agile service design and delivery process that subsequently progresses through alpha, beta and live stages.

Last year, the federal government and the state government of New South Wales announced plans to share digital credentials by making Medicare cards available on the Service NSW app and digital driver’s licenses available on myGov. But the arrival of a new government in the state put credential sharing work on hold.

In June, however, following the signing of the new strategy, Services Australia began discussions with NSW and other states on how to approach implementation.

A spokesperson for Services Australia quoted by InnovationAus says the organization is “committed to working with the Department of Finance and all state and territory service delivery agencies to explore opportunities to integrate services in line with the endorsed national approach.”

Mattr, Austroads collaborate on pre-production of Digital Trust Service

Mobile driver’s licenses are also getting critical infrastructure support through a new agreement between decentralized identity provider Mattr and regional transport authority collective Austroads on a national Digital Trust Service (DTS). A release says the two entities will collaborate to develop DTS capabilities to support multiple types of digital credentials, including mobile drivers licenses (mDLs).

The DTS will serve as the “root of trust for the mDL ecosystem across Australia,” enabling mDLs to be verified “regardless of the issuing jurisdiction or location by relying parties anywhere in the world.” Effectively, the DTS promises to make mDLs securely verifiable anywhere, any time.

Mattr CEO Claire Barber says the company is excited that its Mattr VII platform will be used in a pre-production phase to “provide foundational capabilities to preview the future of an interoperable mobile driving license ecosystem throughout Australia and globally.” The company, a Spark subsidiary, already works with NSW on its digital ID and verifiable credentials program.

Dr. Geoff Allan, chief executive of Austroads, says the collaboration “marks a significant milestone in the harmonization of the digital credential landscape in Australia and supports secure and privacy-preserving validation of digital credentials in line with open international standards.”

Allan calls it “the first step towards a high trust, high assurance digital ecosystem as we continue to advance the global interoperability of our Digital Trust Service.”

Austroads will showcase its work with Mattr at its International Interoperability Test Event (IVC24 Interop), to be held in Sydney from October 2-5, 2024. In a LinkedIn post, Austroads’ National Harmonisation Lead for Digital Identity Christopher Goh calls the event “a global event where digital identity, wallet and verifying providers have an opportunity to test their international standard-based products with the world’s best.”

A series of webinars have been scheduled leading up to the event, with the first session, “Demystifying Digital Licenses and Austroads Digital Trust Service,” happening on August 9.

Breaking down ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard on mDLs

A separate post from Goh points to a useful resource: a visual one-pager on ISO/IEC 18013-5. “One of the most frequent things I get asked is what makes up the international mDL standard 18013-5,” he says. “I have done a simple (rather plain) one pager to show how this standard is made up of, and takes advantage of, the best world standards to deliver on a wonderful end to end privacy by design verifiable credential.”

Article Topics

Australia  |  Austroads  |  digital ID  |  Digital Trust Service (DTS)  |  interoperability  |  ISO 18013-5  |  ISO standards  |  Mattr  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  verifiable credentials