The federal government has bucked expectations with a large amount of investment into sustaining technology projects, headlined by $654m for Digital ID and just shy of $600m for My Health Record.
There is at least $2.4 billion in technology-related spend on budget measures included in the 2026-27 budget papers.
A plethora of agencies with a role in the government’s Digital ID delivery and oversight picked up a collective $654.3 million over four years, with $166.7 million a year allocated after that.
Out of this, the Australian Taxation Office will receive just over half of the funds “to maintain operation of myID and the relationship authorisation manager, including implementation of additional security controls and functionality.”
Services Australia will receive $135.2 million in its role as Digital ID system administrator and maintainer of the Digital ID Exchange and myGov LinkID; while $98 million goes to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for regulatory functions.
Outside of Digital ID, My Health Record has $598.3 million over two years “to support the continued operations and enhancement … including delivering targeted system improvements that will underpin implementation of further legislative reforms” around default data sharing.
“The government recognises the critical importance of digital technologies to improve the accessibility and quality of services,” finance minister Katy Gallagher wrote.
“Since 2022–23, the government has invested in digital services and systems to keep pace with rapidly developing technologies and public expectations for services to be available digitally.
“For the first time, Australia is now ranked second globally in the OECD’s 2025 digital government index, with the OECD highlighting the strength of Australia’s digital service delivery, national coordination and focus on designing services around Australians’ needs.”
Other big budget winners include:
- the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, which has $259.9 million in 2026–27 for the sustainment of aged care ICT systems.
- Services Australia, which lands $160.4 million over four years for a cyber security uplift program
- A mix of agencies responsible for stabilising and modernising business registers, with $136.1 million allocated over two years.
The full list of projects to receive funding:
- $654.3 million over four years (and $166.7 million per year ongoing) to “maintain the security and reliability of the Australian government’s Digital ID System.”
- $598.3 million over two years for “continued operations and enhancement of My Health Record”.
- $259.9 million in 2026–27 to Health, Disability and Ageing “for the sustainment of aged care ICT systems.”
- $160.4 million over four years for the Services Australia cyber security uplift program.
- $136.1 million over two years “to complete the second tranche of stabilisation and uplift of Australia’s business registers.”
- $105.9 million for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) “to modernise environmental information, data and digital systems (including through the use of AI) to improve user experience and enable simpler, faster environmental approvals.”
- $89.3 million to sustain and enhance cyber security initiatives at Home Affairs
- $86.3 million over four years for phase two a strategy to modernise the prevention and detection of fraud in the tax and super systems.
- $62 million over two years “to extend the operation and participation in the Consumer Data Right” and enable further data sharing.
- $50 million in 2026–27 “to sustain the operational activities of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and funding for critical ICT system remediation.”
- $39.2 million over five years “to support the activities of health agencies and continued access to health data and information.”
- $33.7 million in 2026–27 “to improve the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s ICT governance, delivery processes and internal cyber security capability”.
- $29.8 million over three years to establish the National Veterans’ Data Asset.
- $28 million over four years “for the Australian Federal Police, Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AGD to continue to support access to data for law enforcement and national security purposes under the AUS‑US Data Access Agreement.”
- $26.5 million over three years “to improve the functionality, availability and security of the myGov platform”.
- $26.1 million over two years to Finance “to maintain the security and reliability of whole‑of‑government budget and financial management information and technology systems.”
- $19.8 million in 2025–26 “for planning, feasibility assessment and proof‑of‑concept activities for the Services Australia long‑term ICT architecture strategy.”
- $18.5 million over four years “to uplift the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority’s (APRA) capability to improve the security of systems of national significance.”
- $1.9 million in 2026–27 for the National Freight Data Hub to continue to capture, standardise and provide accessible freight data to improve productivity in the freight sector.
- Unknown: Funding to deliver Australia’s host country infrastructure obligations for the Square Kilometre Array radio astronomy project.
- Unknown: “Additional funding to the Department of Parliamentary Services to deliver necessary enhancements for Parliament’s critical information technology systems.”
- Unknown: An uplift of ICT capabilities at the National Measurement Institute.
