Digital licences official launch in Qld after five years in development

The rollout of Queensland’s digital licence has been bumpier than expected, with Transport Minister Mark Bailey apologising to those who weren’t able to sign up on Day 1 of the official launch. VOTE IN OUR POLL

The rollout of Queensland’s digital licence has been bumpier than expected the state government has conceded, with Transport Minister Mark Bailey apologising to those who haven’t been able to sign up on Day 1 of the program’s official launch.

A total of 15,000 Queenslanders had successfully got hold of their digital licence as of 1.30pm on Wednesday, but many others were left with “unexpected error” messages as they struggled to download and sign up for the program.

Department of Transport and Main Roads acting director-general Sally Stannard said it was disappointing the rollout of the program had not been as smooth as expected despite rigorous testing and planning.

But she assured IT boffins were working hard in the background to ensure the system could deal with the level of demand, with the program earlier in the day able to handle 700 sign ups in 30 minutes. Capacity is expected to increase.

“As I said this morning, it’s not like Taylor Swift tickets, it’s not going to sell out and we do look forward to having everyone on board in due course,” Ms Stannard said.

Mr Bailey said the main issue was people had been unable to get the digital licence at a rate authorities had planned for but he stressed the app was robust and secure.

“I certainly apologise to people who haven’t been able to get a hold of it and have gotten an error message, that’s something we sought to avoid,” he said.

“When you do things, things happen, and there’s a real world out there. You can do the best testing, the most rigorous background… you rely a lot on your IT people and occasionally if something goes wrong, you act to fix that as quickly as we can.

“But can I assure everybody that they will have the digital licence and it’ll be the best in the nation, it’ll be at the highest standard of any digital licence in the country.”

Opposition transport spokesman Steve Minnikin slammed the government for the “botched” rollout of the digital licence app and said there was a “fair expectation” the program should work after five years in the pipeline.

“There has been a lot of time, effort and money that’s gone into this product and you would think that the actual day of delivery, that you would have had enough testing and enough rigour to make sure that when you press that button to say go… it would work,” he said.

“(Instead) it’s been an abject failure.”

Transport Minister Mark Bailey. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Digital licences became available to all Queenslanders from Wednesday, with the state finally joining other jurisdictions in rolling out the technology after five years of development.

From November 1 Queenslanders with a driver’s licence, marine licence or other Queensland photo identification card can load the document direct to a government app and keep the physical version at home.

Today’s glitches came as the state government said it was confident enough in the app’s security that Mr Bailey declared Queensland’s version will “set the standard for mobile driver's licence apps across Australia and the world”.

It is the first app of its kind in Australia to be compliant with international standards.

The Queensland Digital Licence app was developed at a cost of $53m by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, in partnership with defence company Thales and Queensland-based tech companies Code Heroes and Aliva.

The digital licence can be used wherever identification information is needed, including to pick up postage, entering a bar or nightclub, renting a car, or even travelling overseas — though when heading outside Queensland users are advised to carry their physical licence just in case.

Queenslanders will finally get digital licences. Picture: Supplied.

Queenslanders are being assured their private information is safe and secure within the app as it is encrypted on their device and can only be accessed using a PIN to log into the app.

The app has been in development since 2018 with the government launching trial sites in Townsville and on the Fraser Coast.

The trial in Townsville was due to begin at the end of 2022, but was delayed until April 2023 following major data breaches at Optus and Medibank

There has been criticism of Queensland’s slow rollout of digital licences compared to other jurisdictions including New South Wales and South Australia.

But the state government is standing by the timeline, affirming extensive security testing including the hiring of “ethical hackers” to ensure robustness has been important.

The project also included the development of a “Digital Licence Verifier” app which allows businesses to use a shared device between their staff in order to verify a customers’ information without requiring everyone to sign into the app individually.

“I’m excited for all Queenslanders to be able to download and use the app,” Mr Bailey said.

“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of your private information, which is why we put the app through rigorous privacy and information security testing, including two pilot tests in Townsville and on the Fraser Coast, to ensure your identity is always protected.”

The app can be downloaded from the Apple and Google Play Stores, and Queenslanders will need their passport and/or birth certificate as a further proof of identity when they first sign up.