Every time you show a passport or driver’s licence online, it’s another copy of your identity documents stored somewhere. Here’s how Australia’s Digital ID system is meant to change that.
A digital identity, or Digital ID, is a way to prove who you are online without having to show or upload identity documents every time.
Instead of sending a copy of your passport or driver’s licence to every organisation that needs to check your identity, you verify your identity once with a trusted provider. When a service needs to confirm who you are, you approve sharing that confirmation through an app.
myID
The Government’s Digital ID app is called myID, formerly known as myGovID. It’s used to log into myGov and services from the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, Medicare and many other agencies.
People set it up by verifying their identity documents through the app, and can reach different levels of identity strength depending on which documents they use. Some services, such as setting up a business, require a higher level.
Banks and other companies run their own accredited digital identity services, and states have developed digital driver’s licences.
The laws
The Digital ID Act, passed in 2024, set up a legal framework for an Australian Government Digital ID System. It allows private companies, as well as government, to become accredited Digital ID providers, under rules overseen by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, with privacy oversight from the Information Commissioner.
The system is being expanded in stages, with plans for private businesses to be able to accept Digital IDs for identity checks.
Is it compulsory?
No. The law makes using a Digital ID voluntary for individuals. Government services must generally offer another way to prove your identity, with some exceptions.
Privacy protections
The law includes safeguards. Providers can’t use biometric information, such as face scans used to verify identity, for other purposes, and must delete it after use, with limited exceptions. They also can’t track what services people use their Digital ID for, or use the data for marketing.
The idea is that sharing less information more securely reduces the risk from data breaches. After breaches at Optus and Medibank exposed millions of identity documents, supporters argued fewer organisations should be holding copies of them.
The concerns
Privacy and civil liberties groups have raised concerns about the potential for a Digital ID to expand over time, become effectively compulsory, or create a single target for hackers. Some have also raised questions about how age verification for social media and online content could interact with digital identity.
The Government says strong legal protections and the voluntary nature of the system address those risks.
