Services Australia's digital credential sharing with NSW on ice

A publicised bid to open the Services Australia and Service NSW digital wallets to store multiple government credentials has stalled, with no indication of when work might resume.

Victor Dominello (NSW) and Bill Shorten (federal) in a pre-NSW election publicity photo in February.

Opposition senators revealed today that work on “the integration and sharing of credentials between myGov and the Service NSW app” had been paused, citing documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

A pilot was meant to allow the Services NSW app to carry digital Medicare cards, and myGov users to add their NSW digital driver’s licence to the myGov digital wallet.

But Services Australia’s chief information and digital officer Charles McHardie confirmed Wednesday that work had not progressed beyond a discussion phase.

“There had been some initial work that was done between Services Australia and Service NSW, looking at sharing credentials,” McHardie said.

“There were some initial meetings that were undertaken, [but then] there was a change of government in NSW, and Service NSW have had a look at the path they want to take moving forward.”

McHardie said that the two agencies are “still liaising” though he later said there was no indication from Service NSW on when or if activities would resume.

He said no specific funding had been put into the work from Services Australia’s end.

“We just used the myGov design team and we just put it in our backlog of work that we generally run and [prioritise] on a monthly basis,” he said.

McHardie said that since the launch of the myGov mobile app at the end of last year, the agency was well-placed to cater to credential sharing arrangements, whether with NSW or another state or territory.

“It’s well set up for additional credentials into the future,” he said.