Queensland’s first Digital Licence app will be trialled in Townsville in late 2022, followed by a statewide rollout in 2023.
The Digital Licence app will allow Queenslanders to easily and securely store their driver licence, marine licence and/or photo identification card on their mobile devices.
Legislation was passed in July 2022 making the digital licence the legal equivalent of the physical licence. The Digital Licence offers a safer and more convenient way for Queenslanders to digitally share and validate their identity.
The app has been developed with security and privacy as key considerations. Features have been built into the app to protect personal data and ensure authenticity. Through the app, users can control the information they share and with whom they share it, using specific sharing bundles. For example, the user can choose to share just their photo and they are over 18, but keep their date of birth, address and driving conditions private. Users can also share their full licence details as well as a digitally signed, printable PDF.
The app is secured behind the user’s phone security, as well as a six-digit access PIN, which the user sets when they first install and use the app, providing protection from identity theft and fraud.
The Digital Licence can be verified in two ways:
- You can do a simple visual check, keeping an eye out for security features like the pulsating Queensland Coat of Arms or the last online refresh date.
- You can scan a user’s Digital Licence using your own Digital Licence app, or a Digital Licence Verifier app. The user’s app will provide a QR code which verifies details through an encrypted exchange. (Note: the QR code can not be scanned by the phone camera)
Scanning a user’s Digital Licence in this way is the safest and most secure form of verification, allowing businesses to confidently meet their identification monitoring and management obligations.
If you need to keep a photocopy of a driver licence in your systems, you will not be able to photocopy a phone screen. Instead, the app allows the user to generate a PDF, which they can then share with you using the phone’s sharing options. The PDF contains all the information from their driver licence and can be stored in the same way you currently store the photocopies. It is also digitally signed for additional protection.
The Digital Licence app will be free, optional and opt-in, and Queenslanders will continue to be sent physical cards for their licences and photo identification cards.
More information will be provided by the project team in the leadup to the Townsville trial and statewide rollout. In the meantime, you can find out more about the digital licence online, register for updates, or email digitallicence@tmr.qld.gov.au for more information.