Digital ID, passkeys are transforming Australian government services

Tax has gone digital in Australia, where businesses now need to use the Australian Government Digital ID System to verify their identity when accessing online services, including the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

According to reporting from 7News Australia, the change will affect anyone trying to use online services for business, the Relationship Authorisations Manager (RAM), Access Manager, and the Australian Business Register (ABR).

The government’s myID is currently the only digital identifier available to log in to ATO services.

The government has been on a steady track of digital transformation across portfolios. Passkeys have played a significant role.

In the Digital Transformation Agency’s Major Digital Projects Report for 2025, in a section on “Phishing Resistant myGov Login Credentials,” it says in the first week of the program, which launched in June, “more than 20,000 myGov users set up a passkey. By the end of December 2024, over 500,000 users had a passkey connected to their myGov account and over 200,000 had turned off their myGov password.”

“Using a passkey and disabling a password makes myGov accounts resistant to phishing attacks because the passkey only works with the website or app it is created on, which means it will not work on a phishing website,” the report says.

Victoria’s driver registration and licensing agency, VicRoads, has also rolled out biometric passkeys as an option for accessing accounts. Its introductory pilot program resulted in the creation of over 200,000 passkeys.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  Digital ID Act 2024  |  myGov (Australia)  |  myID Australia  |  passkeys