Nearly eight in ten drivers in the Australian state of New South Wales now have a digital version of their driving licence stored on their smartphone that they can use in cases ranging from police checks to age verification in shops and bars and identity authentication when collecting postal deliveries, according to state minister Victor Dominello.

Dominello revealed at a press conference that 4.4 million of NSW’s 5.6 million adults have now created a digital version of their driving licence in the state’s Service NSW app.

It was also announced that NSW residents will soon be able to add their digital driving licence to the Australian federal government’s myGov app and download their digital Medicare national healthcare card to the Service NSW app.

“Today, I would like to thank [federal government] minister Bill Shorten for his leadership in ensuring that Services Australia and Service NSW will provide customers with these options,” Dominello told the press conference, according to a report by Australian media outlet The Mandarin.

“One of the most common requests is whether customers can integrate their Medicare Card into their Service NSW app. Equally, if customers choose to have their NSW driver’s licence in their myGov app, they should be empowered to do that also. Ultimately it is about customer choice.

“This is a good example of federal and state governments working together, to get our digital infrastructure operating seamlessly for the benefit of all Australians.”

Dominello subsequently confirmed the NSW digital driving licence uptake figures in a Tweet.

The federal Australian government is planning to roll out digital Medicare cards in March.

The state government of NSW announced its plans to roll out a ‘whole-of-government’ digital identity wallet in November 2021.

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