The Australian Government Digital ID System is being opened up to accredited private Digital ID providers, with businesses that rely on the government's myID service set to start paying for access from January 2027.
Individuals and government agencies will continue to use the system for free. Businesses, however, will be asked to contribute to operating costs under a cost recovery model, with the final pricing structure still to be settled following a government consultation later this year.
A system already handling millions of checks
myID currently underpins 264 government services, split between 155 run by the Commonwealth and 109 run by state and territory governments. Between May 2025 and April 2026 alone, the system processed 113 million authenticated transactions.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the changes "lay the groundwork for a mature system that works across government," framing the reform as a step toward a more established, long term identity verification framework rather than a one off change.
Room for private providers to specialise
Private Digital ID providers will be able to join the government framework from December 1 and offer competing identity services alongside myID. Officials say the change keeps "security, privacy and consumer protection at the centre" of the system while allowing private operators to handle use cases the government system is less suited to, such as verifying foreign issued documents. The government says the framework is also intended to give businesses greater certainty about how Digital ID will operate as it scales.
