Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

We're certainly making it clear that it's voluntary. As part of that, the government has to maintain systems that allow people to use and engage with the government without a digital ID. They are currently doing it. Ten and a half million people, or a million accounts, are used across 130 different programs. I think people understand, because of all the breaches we have had, about the need to look at secure ways to retain your own information and put strong privacy arrangements around it. Because people are so connected and using devices all the time, they are more comfortable with ideas around digital ID. But it is absolutely voluntary; nobody can force anybody to have a digital identity at all. Government systems will have to be maintained, and should be maintained, to ensure that people are able to interact with government as they choose.