Digital birth certificates for NSW

Thoughtworks has been selected by the NSW Government to develop and deploy what it says will be the world’s first digital birth certificate, providing citizens with highly secure access available anytime, anywhere.

The appointment follows the NSW Government’s announcement last year that it would be “spearheading a cross-jurisdictional project to develop a national Digital Birth Certificate” and is a key priority of the NSW Premier’s Government Made Easy (GME) initiative.

A digital birth certificate will help overcome many issues around the use of a physical identity document, including durability, safekeeping and accessibility. The digital birth certificate is expected to be widely accepted by government, businesses, schools and sporting organisations, making it faster and easier for citizens to apply for products and services.

Amit Padhiar, A/Registrar, NSW Births Deaths and Marriages, said NSW was excited to be leading the way with a world-first holistic digital birth certificate solution that allows for effective, safe and secure identity establishment, verification, authentication and management.

“This exercise is about delivering greater convenience to our customers, but it is critically important to do so while protecting their information and meeting other key criteria such as accessibility and ease of use across multiple devices and platforms and providing the ability to opt in and opt out,” Padhiar said.

Thoughtworks will deliver a fully integrated digital birth certificate that operates on all widely used platforms (including Apple iOS, Android and as a multi-browser web app). It will be beta tested, assured for quality and web content accessibility (WCAG), pass all applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and meet specifications relating to data privacy and cybersecurity. The project is expected to launch late 2022.

Once released, the digital birth certificate will be optional and will complement the paper birth certificate, not replace it.

Before appointing Thoughtworks as its delivery partner, the NSW Government conducted a detailed discovery and research process, consulting citizens across Australia, to establish guiding principles for the product design.

Kristan Vingrys, Managing Director for Thoughtworks Australia and New Zealand, said Thoughtworks is in the business of helping businesses and governments become modern digital organisations, which is all about bringing technology to the core and pushing the boundaries of innovation.

“Every industry is facing pressure to become more digitally nimble, and we are incredibly proud to be working with the NSW Government on such a momentous step forward into our digital future — one that will set a new standard for other states and countries to follow,” Vingrys said.

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