An audit led by David Thodey has called for an acceleration of the digital identity scheme, including biometrics, and for digital ID to be used for government services by the end of this year.

The recommendation is one of ten contained in a report into the myGov platform released this week.  

Mr Thodey recommends that the government prioritise digital identity as the main way of signing into government digital services.  

“Moving faster to a well communicated system of digital identity … can make government services and broader digital interactions safer and more robust,” he says.

Performance ‘falls short’

MyGov was launched in May 2013 with the aim of providing Australians with online access to a range of government services in one place.

The independent audit of the platform, launched in September 2022 to guide its future development, looks at how well myGov is performing in terms of reliability, functionality and user-friendliness.

The report says despite improvements to the platform and the release of the myGov app last year, the investigating panel found many strengths but also some ‘serious shortcomings’.

The improvements were “well short of the long-expressed vision of providing a primary digital front door to government for Australians”, it concludes.

Digital ID

The report says a major problem relates to the reluctance of people to use digital ID for myGov.

Despite the potential benefits of digital identities, fewer than one per cent of users are signing in to myGov with a digital identity.

“People see the process as ‘circular’, ‘self-referencing’ and ‘too difficult to understand’, “the report says. “These problems need to be fixed urgently.”

“Current arrangements lack the clarity to deliver on the national priority for a more robust digital identity and credential ecosystem,” the report says.

Moving faster to a well communicated system of digital identity … can make government services and broader digital interactions safer and more robust.

David Thodey

“Moving faster to a well communicated system of digital identity and verifiable credentials, founded on security, privacy and other human rights, can make government services and broader digital interactions safer and more robust.”

The report says the transition to using digital identity to sign into government services should begin by the end of this year.

“Second, government needs to urgently legislate for the digital identity framework and the safe use of one-to-one facial biometric matching,” it says.

Use of myGov increasing

The report says the number of myGov users has more than doubled over the last five years, with users logging up to 1.4 million sessions a day – triple what it was three years ago.

In 2017, there were 11.7 million myGov accounts. Today, there are more than 25 million.

The panel found the proportion of users who are satisfied overall with the platform has improved from 40 to 45 per cent, but says this is still too low.

Key findings from a survey of 723 users in October last year and show:

• 67 per cent used myGov in the last week

• 75 per cent thought government should do more for people who do not use online services

• 54 per cent bhad their myGovID connected to their myGov account

• 20–40 per cent reported negative experiences when using myGov

• 75 per cent thought government online services need improving

• 50 per cent of respondents did not know where to go for help if having problems