Australia Launches MyGov Digital Identity Solution Mobile App

According to several reports, the long-awaited release of Australia’s myGov mobile app has finally launched, complete with biometric face recognition log-in capabilities, and a digital wallet.

MyGov Digital Identity Solution 

The Australian Government introduced the online portal myGov a few years ago to provide a streamlined and protected way to access multiple online government services with a single username and password. Users can access a wide range of government resources, including Australian JobSearch, Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Department of Health Applications Portal, HousingVic Online Services, Child Support, My Aged Care, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the National Redress Scheme, and the State Revenue Office Victoria, among many others, through the myGov portal.

There was never an app, and signing in to these public services was a pain.  This was demonstrated when a large number of Australians tried to retrieve their vaccination certificate last year and were unsuccessful. 

The New MyGov 

Minister of Government Services, Bill Shorten, is developing a strategy to promote the new myGov mobile app as the central hub for managing both public and commercial sector services, facilitating integration via a single secure digital identity. Mr. Shorten unveiled a number of enhancements for the myGov mobile app during its launch in Sydney. These included facial recognition for quick sign-in, a wallet to store critical government papers in one location and push alerts for services like tax refunds. The app’s interface and wayfinding are in uniformity with Services Australia and the myGov website, down to the sky-blue color scheme, design components, and font styles used throughout. Shorten is eager for myGov to provide the kind of fully integrated public and private sector services that people in the Nordic European area enjoy, having just returned from a digital government study. Integration with corporate services such as banking, flying, getting medical care or transit is essential, as is synchronization with other services that need proof of identification. 

Benefits of MyGov

Australia’s federal digital identification platform has been improved with several state-level systems, allowing users to navigate to tax platforms and the Centrelink government payment system. Due to continuing delays at the health agency, the digital wallet doesn’t have an embedded Medicare card yet. But Shorten assured the public that Medicare features will be implemented shortly.

Security concerns such as ransomware attacks and extortion efforts targeted at some government departments played a role in Prime Minister  Anthony Albanese’s decision to take this action. A data breach at Optus in October 2022 compromised the current personal details of around 1.2 million users. The myGov platform, according to Shorten, would reduce the burden on businesses and service providers to gather and keep users’ private information.

The rollout of myGov is a watershed moment in Australia’s greater effort to digitally transform and centralize government services. “People want internet services to be straightforward to use,” Shorten stated in a press statement. The new myGov app is a major development in the evolution of Australia’s government digital services. Both Apple’s App Store and Google Play Market have the myGov app.

The eGov Platform 

Governments worldwide are introducing complete e-Government solutions to better serve their citizens. This has led to the use of end-to-end e-Government solutions but there are not many vendors that provide such solutions. M2SYS is one of the few organizations that offers complete end-to-end e-Government solutions and also biometric turnkey solutions. The best part about these solutions is they do not take years to implement and can be customized to fit the needs of any government around the world. There is no need to develop complex applications from scratch when you can have them served on a plate. To learn more about it, please, get in touch with us.