The New South Wales government recently announced it would be kicking off a metro trial of a digital driver licence in November across Sydney’s Eastern Beaches, allowing more than 140,000 licence holders in the region to ditch the plastic identification card for a smartphone-rendered copy, available via the Service NSW app.
The trial expands a pilot in Dubbo late last year that allowed participants to use their digital driver licence for proof of identity and proof of age to gain entry into pubs and clubs, as well as for roadside police checks.
On Monday, launching a blockchain solution designed to underpin the digitisation of government services, Australian data security company Secure Logic revealed its platform had been used to underpin the digital driver licence, enabling the state-wide roll-out of the digital identification play, with its tech used in both the Dubbo and the upcoming Eastern Beaches trials.
Secure Logic CEO Santosh Devaraj said driver’s licences are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the transformation of the public service and that he expects new technologies will significantly change how people interact with government over the next decade.
“The era of standing in line to file government paperwork is coming to an end, as is our reliance on physical identification cards to establish your identity or proof of age with law enforcement or at licensed venues. These are mistake prone, time-consuming, expensive, and impractical ways to offer services,” Devaraj said.
According to the company, TrustGrid is an advanced blockchain solution that delivers a secure, decentralised, and immutable ledger of transactions. It enables government agencies and vetted private organisations such as hospitals and financial institutions to create private consortiums of trust entities on the fly.