NSW Legislative Assembly Passes Bill Allowing for Digital Licenses and Photo Cards

“This bill is a significant step forward in delivering on the New South Wales Government's commitment to digital transformation. It will enable the digitisation of the New South Wales driver licence and the New South Wales photo card on an opt-in basis, which will provide opportunities for improvements in service delivery, privacy and security for the citizens of our great State here in New South Wales. As at the end of 2017 there were over six million New South Wales driver licences and over 568,000 photo cards in use.

The bill delivers on the Government's 2015 election commitment to transition to digital driver licences by 2019. It also supports the Government's digital strategy, the Premier's priority to improve government services and the State priority of 70 per cent of government transactions to be conducted by digital channels by 2019. In 2015 the New South Wales Government announced its commitment to offering the people of New South Wales a range of digital licences, including a transition to digital driver licences by 2019. Since then this Government has successfully digitised the responsible service of alcohol and responsible conduct of gambling competency cards, the recreational fishing fee, boat driver licences and recreational vessel registrations.”

“The bill will achieve two primary objectives. First, it will amend the Road Transport Act 2013 to enable the digitisation of the New South Wales driver licence, and deliver on the Government's election commitment to transition to digital driver licences by 2019. Under the Road Transport Act 2013, driver licences are implied to be physical artefacts and a digital driver licence is not currently provided for. This bill will make necessary legislative changes to establish the digital driver licence as a valid evidence of authority to drive that can be used in place of the physical driver licence card. This means citizens will have the option of carrying and producing either their digital driver licence or driver licence card when driving in New South Wales. These amendments also will enable the digital driver licence to be treated as a driver licence for the purpose of evidencing a person's age or identity in the liquor and gaming industry, and in other circumstances specified by regulation.

Secondly, this bill will amend the Photo Card Act 2005 to enable the digitisation of the New South Wales photo card. Like the driver licence and Road Transport Act 2013, the Photo Card Act 2005 currently implies that New South Wales photo cards are physical cards. These amendments will establish the digital photo card as a valid form of the photo card, so that it can also be used in place of the physical photo card in the liquor and gaming industry, and other circumstances by regulation. The bill also will make supporting amendments to the Gaming and Liquor Administration Act 2007, the Liquor Act 2007 and associated regulations to make clear that the digital driver licence and digital photo card can be used as evidence of age [EOA] in the liquor and gaming industry. The amendments to the Road Transport Act 2013 and Photo Card Act 2005 will allow the Roads and Maritime Services [RMS] agency to securely release personal information and photographs from its driver licensing and photo card registers to the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation and Service NSW to issue a digital driver licence and digital photo card via the Service NSW app.”