Both the Digital ID Bill 2024 and the Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2024 have passed Parliament and are expected to come into effect from November this year.

The bills first passed the Senate in March 2024 and passed the House of Representatives in May, after a Senate committee conducted an inquiry that lasted from November 2023 to February 2024 when the final report was tabled.

The bills are expected to receive Royal Assent in the coming weeks, and comes after the Government confirmed a $288.1 million injection into the Digital ID System in the 2024-25 Budget announced on 14 May.

In a statement from the Department of Finance, it said the Digital ID Bill 2024 will:

• “legislate and strengthen a voluntary Accreditation Scheme for digital ID service providers that wish to demonstrate compliance with best practice privacy, security, proofing and authentication standards;
• legislate and enable expansion of the Australian Government Digital ID System for use by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and eventually private sector organisations;
• embed strong privacy and consumer safeguards, in addition to the Privacy Act to ensure users are protected; and
• strengthen governance arrangements for the Accreditation Scheme and the Australian Government Digital ID System.”

The new system will ensure improved privacy and security standards are legislated and Australians feel safer during online experiences, with the help of a wide selection of “secure and trusted providers”.

The bill also installs the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as the Digital ID Regulator, with help from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to govern the privacy aspects of the system.

The Government also confirmed that accredited private business will be eligible to apply to join the Digital ID System after two years of commencement, after industry pushback was reflected in the Senate committee’s final report regarding the vague timeline and schedule of entrants becoming eligible to join the system.