Paul Warren-Tape
A Morrison-government digital economy initiative, the Trusted Digital Identity Framework, had languished since last year’s change of government and looked headed for the policy scrap heap. But it has had a new lease of life, with funding in the Budget to continue its development.
The government will provide A$26.9 million in 2023/24 for the Department of Finance and the Digital Transformation Agency to “design the policy and legislative foundations to transition to an economy-wide digital ID ecosystem”.
Since May 2019, the TDI Framework has accredited several digital identity providers, including Australia Post, the Australian Taxation Office, OCR Labs and Mastercard.
It has also accredited identity exchanges, including Australian Payment Plus’s ConnectID, Services Australia and Mastercard.
In September last year, the big banks agreed to work on a ConnectID trial, acting as identity providers. ConnectID will act as a digital identity exchange, connecting merchants with identity providers.
In trial applications, the digital identification will replace the 100-point check and other ID requirements.
This year, Mastercard launched an age verification pilot with Service New South Wales and alcohol delivery company Tipple. When making a purchase with Tipple, pilot participants verify that they are over 18 by connecting to the Service NSW app, which is integrated with the Mastercard ID network. The only information received by Tipple is verification that the consumer is over 18.
Consumers do not have to share the date of birth or copies of documents such as a driver’s licence or passport.
The previous government issued a bill in draft form in October 2021, setting out the regulatory framework for digital identity, but the bill did not make it into Parliament before the election.
The Budget funding is aimed, in part, at getting a bill back on the agenda.
Paul Warren-Tape, the general manager for Asia Pacific at OCR Labs, said legislation would establish a regulator for the digital identity framework, make the system safer and more standardised, and facilitate the sharing of digital identities between the public and private sectors.
“The government’s priorities are to make sure the system is safe and reliable. At the moment TDIF accreditation gives our clients comfort that our technology is reliable, that we have an accredited solution and that we can offer improved cyber protection.
“Legislation will put assurance processes and regulations in place. It will also give users liability protection,” Warren-Tape said.
OCR Labs’ provides identity and data verification services to companies in a range of industries, including financial services. Customers include ANZ, Westpac, Macquarie Bank, HSBC Bank Australia, Mortgage Choice and HomeStar.
Its value proposition is that clients can rely on its validation process and do not have to store lots of customer information.
“With an accredited digital identity service, a bank does not need to gather and hold all the information they previously required for a 100-point ID check.
“What the legislation will do is standardise ID verification and regulate it, making it easier for services to work across industries and with government.”