The NSW government is assembling a new advisory council for digital identity policy, as the state and federal government look to accelerate digital identity and data sharing programs.
On Monday NSW Minister for Digital and Customer Service Victor Dominello issued a call out for identity experts to join a new Digital Identity Ministerial Advisory Council.
The Minister is looking for up to 10 individual or organisational experts to join the council, which will be refreshed each year with new membership and terms of reference.
Mr Dominello, who will chair the council, said the area of digital identity is fast evolving and has a potential impact on many aspects of citizens’ lives.
“I am calling for individual and industry thought leaders in this area to come forward and express their interest in working alongside me to tackle this important program of work,” he said in a LinkedIn post.
An expression of interest for the council said the Digital Identity Ministerial Advisory Council’s primary purpose is to provide the Minister with “strategic and tactical approaches and relevant issues” related to digital identity.
“It will facilitate collaboration, cooperation and positive partnerships across Government, industry and academia to support improved Digital Identity based services and outcomes in accelerated timeframes,” the EOI said.
The council follows the release of the state’s Identity Strategy last month, which aims to embed the government’s identity priorities in all the identity related products and services it delivers through a consistent identity framework.
According to the strategy, changes to service delivery, identity crime, and the need to support citizens when their identity is compromised mean a “holistic” approach to identity is needed.
The strategy was developed by the NSW identity security council, which formed in 2019 to link various NSW government clusters for a more consistent approach to privacy, security and identity information.
The five NSW ‘Identity Priorities” identified in the strategy are privacy, security, customer service, protection, and equal access.
The NSW government operates several identity related initiatives, including the NSW digital drivers licence and birth certificate, the Service NSW account and an upcoming mandatory data breach notification scheme.
Next year the state government will also “explore the feasibility of acting as a digital identity provider to enable participation in government and industry digital identity ecosystems”, according to the strategy.
The federal government also operates several digital ID initiatives and has been pushing for a robust digital identity scheme for years, including another $500 million in the latest budget for “enhancing” myGov and My Health Record.
Australian states and territories have also agreed with the Commonwealth to develop nationally consistent intergovernmental digital identity and data sharing schemes.
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