Australia’s Department of Finance is consulting on a proposed Commonwealth policy for the use of verifiable credentials, the structured digital credentials that a government issuer can sign and a holder can present to a verifier from a mobile wallet without exposing the underlying record. The consultation is open until 11:59 p.m. AEST on July 3, 2026, with submissions made through the federal government’s Digital ID System Have Your Say page.
The consultation is part of Australia’s broader Digital ID and Verifiable Credentials Strategy, which the data and digital ministers across the Commonwealth and the states and territories have endorsed. It sits alongside the federal government’s A$654.3 million expansion of the national Digital ID System over four years.
The materials the department has put out for comment are split into two parts. Part A frames the case for Commonwealth use of verifiable credentials alongside the Australian Government Digital ID System. Part B sets out proposed policy positions in nine areas: use case selection, the criteria for issuing a verifiable credential rather than another type of attestation; issuers, the entities that can issue Commonwealth verifiable credentials; verifiers, the entities that can request and rely on them; digital wallets, the holder’s mobile apps in which credentials are stored and presented; trust services, the registries and signing infrastructure that underpin the system; privacy and consumer protection, including selective disclosure and consent; voluntariness and inclusion, ensuring non-digital channels remain available; interoperability and standards, which standards Commonwealth issuance and verification will conform to; and security.
The consultation builds on verifiable credential work already underway in Australia at the state level. New South Wales has begun a verifiable credentials program inside its Digital Wallet, starting with a digital First Aid certificate issued with St John Ambulance, and has named MATTR as its technology partner for the Digital ID and Verifiable Credentials program.
The Department of Finance said it is seeking submissions from individuals, businesses, and other organizations that are already using verifiable credentials or planning to do so. Responses received during the consultation period are intended to feed into the next stage of Commonwealth verifiable credentials policy development.
Sources: Australian Department of Finance
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By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
