Australia's Digital ID opens to business: what NZ firms should check

What's changing in December

From 1 December 2026, private businesses can apply to verify customers through the Australian Government Digital ID System (AGDIS), and accredited private identity providers can apply to join it. Biometric Update reported on 10 November that the opening completes the phased rollout set out in the Digital ID Act 2024. Until now, the government-run system has mainly served government agencies. Legal commentary from Allens dates private sector eligibility under the Act from 30 November 2026, so the first applications will land in the last days of November or the first days of December.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher announced the policy in June. The detail that matters to businesses is how they'll be charged. According to ID Tech, businesses that rely on myID will pay a simple per-transaction fee, invoiced in arrears, from 1 January 2027 at the latest. The price hasn't been set yet. It depends on a mandatory 28-day public consultation, and the settings will be reviewed after the first year. Individuals will still create and use myID for free, and government agencies keep free access. Accredited private providers that win approval can charge commercially. For now, the ATO's Relationship Authorisation Manager and Services Australia's Digital ID Exchange stay free for businesses. Machine-to-machine checks, such as accounting software connecting to the tax office, don't carry a fee at this stage.

The system already handles a lot of traffic. TechPartner News reports more than 113 million ID-verified transactions between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026, up from 36.5 million in the previous 12 months. Digital ID can be used across 264 government services: 155 Commonwealth and 109 state and territory. Biometric Update puts registered Digital IDs at about 15 million by December 2025, and says the myGov app had more than 10 million users by August 2026.

Why the change matters on this side of the Tasman

Plenty of NZ organisations onboard Australian customers, tenants, borrowers, contractors or staff. Today, most of them check identity with document uploads, third-party verification services or manual review. A government-backed credential that tens of millions of transactions already run through changes the cost and convenience of that check. Once Australian customers can verify with an app they already use for tax and Centrelink, they'll expect the same from a lender, a property manager or a payroll provider.

The rules come with conditions that NZ firms should understand before they commit. Joining AGDIS as a relying party requires approval from the ACCC, which acts as the Digital ID Regulator. Allens lists what every applicant needs: a risk assessment covering cybersecurity and Digital ID fraud incidents, written fraud and cyber management plans reviewed at least annually, and a written disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Participants must report suspected or actual incidents to the System Administrator and keep logs for three years. Providers can't pass attributes to a business without the person's express consent. Higher-risk government services, where identity fraud could seriously hurt people's finances, will accept only the government's own Digital ID providers. That restriction applies to government services, though it shows where the government sees the highest risk.

Use stays voluntary for individuals, and alternative verification methods have to remain available. A business that adopts myID will still run a second onboarding path for customers who decline it, so the saving comes from moving a share of volume onto the cheaper path. The paper processes don't disappear.

The government's own trial gives a sense of the potential gains. A rental pilot run under the government's verifiable credentials work estimated savings of about A$150 per rental listing and up to 70 hours a month, according to Biometric Update. A pilot figure won't carry straight over to another business, but it does show where the savings came from: staff time spent chasing and checking documents.

How the NZ timing compares

New Zealand is building something similar on a different model. Under the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, MBIE has started trialling the NZBN Business Passport with selected Westpac business customers. The passport is held in the Govt.nz wallet and lets a business share verified details, including proof that a person can act for the business (Biometric Update, 3 November). The NZ approach centres on credentials held in a wallet. Australia's myID works as a sign-in and verification exchange with a regulator, a register of participants and a charging model. A trans-Tasman business will probably need to support both, and the two systems won't share an interface.

The practical risk for NZ firms is building separate identity integrations in each country, each with its own retention rules and its own audit trail. Treating identity verification as one service inside the business, with country-specific connectors behind it, keeps the customer journey consistent and limits rework when either government changes its settings. We cover how to structure that kind of change on our digital transformation page.

What's still unknown

The per-transaction price for myID hasn't been published, and the consultation that will set it hadn't opened when the latest coverage appeared. The list of higher-risk services that only accept government providers will come out later. Nobody knows yet how long ACCC approval will take for the first private applicants, or how many private providers will be approved early on. Officials have previously estimated five to ten. Any business case built now needs a range for the fee and a cautious estimate of how many customers will choose myID.

Practical next steps

• Map every point where your organisation checks the identity of an Australian person, along with the volume, the current cost per check, the time taken and the drop-off rate. The fee consultation will mean far more once you have that baseline.
• Decide whether to apply early or wait for the price. Early applicants get first-mover convenience for customers. Late applicants get a known fee and other organisations' lessons. For most mid-sized NZ firms, preparing the paperwork now and applying once pricing is public is the sensible middle course.
• Check your readiness against the AGDIS requirements: a documented fraud and cyber risk assessment, a current business continuity plan, incident reporting procedures and three-year log retention. Many NZ firms have these in some form but haven't reviewed them recently.
• Keep the alternative path working well. Customers can decline Digital ID, so the manual or third-party route stays in place. Automating the hand-offs between the two routes protects your staff hours, and our process and automation work covers that kind of workflow design.
• Design one internal identity service with separate connectors for Australia's AGDIS and NZ's trust framework credentials, so your CRM, ERP and onboarding forms don't each carry their own verification logic.
• Watch for the 28-day pricing consultation, and put a reminder in the 2027 budget cycle for a per-transaction cost that doesn't exist today.