Federal government allocates additional funds for myGovID system
Australia’s government has injected a further AUS$67 million (US$48 million) into the development of its myGovID digital identity system, ahead of a full launch planned for later this year. The funds will be used by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to complete a series of eight pilots of the flagship system, which now has a total budget of close to AUS$190 million, according to a report by ITnews.com.au.
The government will also use the new funds to integrate the digital identity system into the myGov government services portal, which is used by 15 million account holders. One of the live pilots enables citizens to register online for a tax number in just a few minutes. That process had previously taken around 40 days to complete, requiring an in-person visit to physical branches or the posting of documents, according to the report.
Australia, which plans to make all government services available through digital channels by 2025, has held extensive consultations about its myGovID system. Michael Keenan, the Minister for Digital Transformation, noted that public confidence in the privacy and security standards of myGovID is crucial to its success, according to a report by The Mandarin. He said the DTA had received over 2,000 comments on draft elements of Australia’s Trusted Digital Identity Framework during consultations in 2018. “This feedback has come from privacy advocates, digital identity experts, industry groups, Australian Government agencies, state and territory governments, standards bodies, companies and members of the public,” said Keenan. “We have also undertaken privacy impact assessments and made it absolutely and unequivocally clear that digital identity is an opt-in system only, driven by user demand.”