Australia has spelled out how it will charge for digital identity and how much choice government services and individuals will have over providers, clearing the way for accredited private Digital ID providers to join the Australian Government Digital ID System. The policy settings, decided as part of the 2026-27 Budget, are meant to give the private sector certainty and satisfy competitive-neutrality rules before businesses can apply to participate from December 1, 2026.
Under the framework, the government will charge businesses that use its myID app as a relying party, from January 1, 2027 at the latest, while private providers approved into the system will be free to charge commercially for their services. Individuals will continue to pay nothing to create or use a myID; the charges apply only to participating relying parties, and only when myID is used with an organization listed on the system’s official register. A bank that joins the system and uses myID to verify customers, for example, would be charged, while machine-to-machine checks, such as those between accounting software and the tax office, will not incur fees at this stage.
On user choice, the government said some services will be able to decide whether to accept private Digital ID providers, but there will be no blanket requirement to offer a choice of provider. Services where fraud could seriously affect people’s finances will not accept private providers at all, with a list to be published later. Government services will keep using the government’s Digital ID at no charge. The government plans a simple per-transaction fee, with invoices issued in arrears, a mandatory 28-day public consultation on pricing later this year, and a review of the settings after a year in operation. For now, it has also decided not to charge businesses for using the tax office’s Relationship Authorisation Manager or Services Australia’s Digital ID Exchange, though it left open the possibility of doing so once the private market matures.
The settings build on the Digital ID Act 2024, which already provides participating providers with a liability shield, and follow the government’s decision to commit 654.3 million dollars to expanding the system. Officials said they would consult industry on liability arrangements, including possible caps, and would press ahead with a Commonwealth verifiable credentials trust framework through 2026-27 following a successful pilot.
Sources: Australian Government Digital ID System
–
By the ID Tech Editorial Team
