Enabling legislation for the government’s Digital ID has passed both houses of parliament and will come into effect in November.
Passage of the bill came in the same week that the federal government allocated $288.1 million to roll out the scheme.
“Accessing services online with a secure Digital ID restricts the oversharing of personal information and means there are less copies of your ID data and documents out in the world,” finance minister Katy Gallagher said.
Digital ID will, in the government’s words, “provide individuals with secure, convenient, voluntary and inclusive ways to verify their identity for use in online transactions with government and businesses”.
The credential will be expanded to more governments and eventually private sector organisations.
The private sector will be able to apply for accreditation and join the Australian Government Digital ID System within the next two years.
During the two-year phase-in period, businesses will be invited to an expression of interest as part of a government-backed digital wallet pilot.
Following calls from the coalition and Greens, the government accepted amendments to make joining the Digital ID scheme “voluntary” when it passed the senate in March.
According to the bill, “an accredited entity must deactivate a digital ID of an individual if requested to do so and must comply with requirements relating to the accessibility and useability of accredited services”.
As a privacy protection, Gallagher said in March that people who deactivate their digital IDs will be protected from having them reactivated without their knowledge or consent.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will become the Digital ID regulator and the Information Commissioner will regulate privacy protections for digital IDs.
The government had been consulting on an exposure draft of the legislation since mid-September last year.