Australia's myGov app integrates passkeys, still waiting for ID ...

2 days ago

Biometric Update

Australia’s digital ID has made “real progress” in the last few months but the federal government is still unable to give a timeline of when the upcoming ID credentials will be integrated into the country’s government services app myGov, according to Australian Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten.

The government is planning to make the app a one-stop shop for government services, says Shorten. Many Australians already using the myGov app with their Medicare card.

Last Friday, the Minister announced that veteran’s cards will also be available in the myGov app. The move will allow the country’s 300,000 veterans to access services, lodge claims and get bills paid for home care and support.

After passing the amended Digital ID Bill through the Senate in April, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government is currently negotiating with federal states on accessing their drivers licenses. In June, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher held a Digital and Data Ministers Meeting with all of the State Governments on the same page, according to Shorten.

“We want to make sure that we can have the idea of that you go through one door to access Government Services,” he says. “We’ll have more to say about that as negotiations proceed.”

MyGov service has also recently rolled out passkey logins. The app has faced criticism for its vulnerability to scams and fraud which has cost the government billions of dollars. In December last year, the government released a set of recommendations for improving MyGov which also included introducing passkeys that leverage FIDO2 authentication standards.

Services Australia is set to receive AU$580 million (US$385.7 million) over four years to maintain and continue developing myGov.

Australia’s federal government has also earmarked AU$288.1 million (US$190.9 million) for the national digital identity program which will begin its rollout in July. The bulk of the funding, AU$156 million (US$103.3 million), will be spent to upgrade the myGovID platform, the digital identity app that allows Australians to prove their identity when accessing government online services.

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