In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra today, the Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten, announced the Albanese Government is developing ‘brand new and world leading’ digital infrastructure.

‘Trust Exchange’ would give Australians the ability to verify their identity and credentials without ever handing over superfluous personal information and sometimes without exchanging any personal information at all.

Minister Shorten said Trust Exchange, or TEx, is in the ‘proof of concept’ stage and involves other departments including the Minister for the Public Service, Senator Katy Gallagher, and Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones.

Working via the digital wallets of their choice, individuals would use TEx to verify their identity and their credentials based on official information already held by the Australian Government.

“The technology behind TEx would take all the hassle out of finding dozens of documents to prove who you are when you’re doing things like setting up a bank account or buying a mobile phone or even trying to rent a property”, Minister Shorten said.

“TEx will connect the bank or telco or real estate agent with your digital wallet and you then consent to share only the identity attributes or credentials you choose to.”

In the case of someone going to the local pub and wanting to prove they’re 18, TEx technology would mean no personal information is exchanged at all.

The person would just need to hold their phone up to a QR code or tap, like we do when we make a purchase with our smart phone, and have a digital token sent to the club vouching for their identity and age.

It’s a digital ‘thumbs up’ from the Australian Government that the person in front of them is who they say they are.

And while the token is of high value to the business, it would be of no value to a hacker because it contains no personal information.

In discussions with my office, Telstra and Google welcomed the opportunity to be involved in development of TEx.  The Commonwealth Bank, and employment platform, SEEK, have given in-principle support for the technology.

The Tech Council supports the announcement of this significant piece of digital infrastructure, and acknowledges the Albanese Government’s commitment to data security.

The possibilities of TEx are endless.

This is the way it works.

1. You need a service – renting a hotel room for example.
2. When you check in, the hotel requests your personal information (attributes) – your driver’s license or passport usually.
3. With TEx, instead of handing over those documents and have them taken to the back office to be photocopied, you will scan a QR code on the front desk – or use technology similar to tap-to-pay machine – which digitally shakes hands with your myGov wallet.
4. You choose which information to share from your digital wallet and consent to its use.
5. You will have a record in your myGov wallet of what you shared and with whom you shared it.

So, this means Trust Exchange delivers three benefits:

1. Consent: you consent every time your information is shared
2. Choice: you choose what information is shared, by whom, and to whom
3. Trust: the information shared is trusted because the system imposes rigorous privacy and security standards to validate its authenticity.

The TEx proof of concept phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, with options for the pilot phase to be considered in early 2025.