Australia Unveils Digital Identity Scheme; Switzerland Also Interested

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

CANBERRA (Worthy News) – Australia’s central government has unveiled a digital identity document (ID) scheme that it hopes will be rolled out nationwide by July next year.

A bill proposes $145.5 million (US$95.6 million) in additional funding, bringing the total amount allocated for the long-debated digital identity project to AUS$781.9 million (US$513.7 million), Worthy News established.

The announcement monitored Wednesday comes amid efforts by the United Nations and wealthy sponsors to move the entire world population towards digital identification by 2030, Worthy News reported this week.

Critics have questioned whether the technology will lead to Orwellian, intrusive government oversight of people’s lives, but Australia’s cabinet played down those concerns.

The center-left government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed the digital ID is a “secure, convenient, voluntary, and inclusive” way for Australians to verify their identity online.

“Digital ID is not a card, it’s not a unique number, and it’s not a new form of ID,” the government stressed.

The government noted that various cross-state jurisdictions had agreed on a “nationally coordinated approach” to digital ID credentials to reform the country’s fragmented digital ID.

ECONOMY-WIDE

The government said its Digital ID Bill put in place a “legislative framework to create an economy-wide digital ID system in Australia,” a nation of some 26 million people.

It noted that digital ID was “a critical capability and… one of the ways the government is keeping Australians safe and responding to the increase in third-party data breaches”.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher introduced the law to legislators on November 30 before it was referred to a committee for inquiry.

She said the scheme is about “Improving safety online” to “ensure strong independent oversight is in place to support the expansion of the Australian Government Digital ID System from mid-2024.”

Minister Gallagher added, “We’ve spoken with business, community, and privacy groups to ensure the Bill will deliver the privacy safeguards, accreditation options, and consumer safeguards they expect.”

The Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, said the digital ID is the safer way for Australians to prove who they are online. “Whether it’s thwarting a scammer who is pretending to be your bank or securing your online tax accounts so criminals cannot access it. Digital ID will help secure Australians money and their information.”

Thousands of miles away in Europe, Switzerland announced it adopted a bill to roll out its digital ID scheme in 2026.

CONTROVERSY REMAINS

The Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland’s federal cabinet, introduced the e-ID Act
despite controversy: In a 2021 referendum, Swiss citizens voted by a 64.4 percent majority against a national digital ID law amid concerns about privacy and corporate access to personal information.

However, the council said it had incorporated those concerns and that the e-ID would “enable users to identify themselves digitally in a secure, fast and uncomplicated way.”

It added that the use of e-ID would be “voluntary,” applicable both online and offline, and free to anyone with a Swiss identity card, a Swiss passport, or a foreign national identity card issued in Switzerland.

“Users of the state-recognized e-ID will have the best possible control over their data. Data protection will be guaranteed firstly by the system itself… secondly by minimizing the data that must be disclosed… and thirdly by storing the e-ID exclusively on the user’s smartphone,” it said.

Yet it remains to be seen whether privacy advocates share government enthusiasm for the ongoing digital ID efforts in Switzerland, Australia, and many other nations.

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