DATA AND DIGITAL MINISTERS MEETING
COMMUNIQUÉ
24 FEBRUARY 2023
Data and Digital Ministers convened in Melbourne today. The following Ministers attended:
- Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher (Commonwealth)
- The Hon Bill Shorten MP (Commonwealth)
- The Hon Victor Dominello MP (New South Wales)
- The Hon Danny Pearson MP (Victoria)
- The Hon Leeanne Enoch MP (Queensland)
- The Hon Stephen Dawson MLC (Western Australia)
- The Hon Andrea Michaels MP (South Australia)
- The Hon Ngaree Ah Kit MLA (Northern Territory)
The Hon Clare O’Neil MP also attended the meeting.
Modernising Australia’s ID system
Australia’s identity system must keep pace with the modern, increasingly digital, economy. A nationally coordinated approach giving Australians access and control over the use of digital IDs, and making it easy for citizens to deal with government, is vital to success.
National Digital ID system
Ministers continued working to deliver an easy, voluntary and secure way for all Australians to prove who they are once when accessing government services online, and to support the broader use of digital ids and credentials, across the economy and alignment to appropriate international standards.
Ministers noted the Commonwealth released the outcomes from the audit led by David Thodey AO into the myGov digital platform (https://my.gov.au/en/audit). Ministers welcomed the recommendation to accelerate development of a national digital id ecosystem, prioritising the protection of security, privacy, safety and other human rights. Ministers noted the Commonwealth will provide a full response to the report later this year.
Identity resilience
Ministers endorsed in-principle the draft National Strategy for Identity Resilience, which sets out principles and government initiatives to make Australian identities hard to steal and, if compromised, easy to restore. This is an example of strong intergovernmental cooperation on making Australia safe from threats such as cyber security breaches.
Ministers will consider a final National Strategy for Identity Resilience later this year.
The Strategy complements development of a Cyber Security Strategy, which the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Cyber Security announced in December 2022.
Cyber security will be a standing agenda item for Data and Digital Ministers.
Digital Inclusion
Ministers agreed to continue collaborating to support the digital inclusion of first nations people, women and those of diverse backgrounds.
Data sharing to support women’s safety
Ministers agreed to actively explore ways to support the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032. Ministers will work with Women’s Safety ministers to identify opportunities to improve data sharing and advance a whole-of-society solution to end gender-based violence in one generation.
Ministers acknowledged the pending retirement of Minister Dominello and his strong contribution to the work of the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting over many years.
New Zealand is not a party to this communiqué.
Information on the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting, including previous meeting communiqués, can be found at www.finance.gov.au/government/public-data/data-and-digital-ministers-meeting.
