It Seems The Gateway To The myHealthRecord Is Already Rather Obsolete.

Users of he #myHealthRecord need to have a myGOV account to be able to access the #myHealthRecord.

With that in mind I noticed this a day or so ago.

Govt digital ID system a ‘house of cards’

Joseph Brookes
Senior Reporter

14 July 2021

The federal government’s push for an economy wide digital identity system will leave it on the “wrong side of history”, an identity and data protection expert has warned, as legislation is finalised for the expansion of the controversial program to state governments and the private sector.

The Digital Identity system has been developed by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) over the last six years at a cost of more than $450 million.

It allows users of federal government services to verify their identity and use it across multiple services by accessing an “identity framework” of identity and attribute providers, with Home Affairs verifying identity documents and biometrics.

It has faced criticism for repeated delays and a potentially major security flaw but will be pushed to state and territory services and the private sector as early as next year, with legislation enabling the extension and legal protections to be released by the end of 2020.

Independent researcher and consultant Stephen Wilson, whose Lockstep Consulting and Technologies firm has worked with Australian state, federal and US government agencies, said the program created a “house of cards” because it relies on a model that is fundamentally different to what citizens want and where digital service leaders are heading.

“The DTA are operating within a mindset and a model of identity that has been overtaken by events,” Mr Wilson told InnovationAus.

The government’s push for a centralised framework of identity verification across the public and private sector is inconsistent with what citizens want and where industry leaders have already shifted, he said, pointing to a growth in decentralised verifiable credentials like mobile wallets and digital drivers licences, and the failure of large scale identity programs overseas.

“If we could stop obsessing about identity and just equip people to digitise their credentials and their digital bits and pieces then I think you’d find the need for legislation and certainly the need for an identity exchange will disappear,” he said.

Lots more here:

https://www.innovationaus.com/govt-digital-id-system-a-house-of-cards/

With international experience and a reasonable view of what people actually want it is pretty clear that the Government may have built a rather large and expensive ‘white elephant’ to manage user identity. It makes perfect sense that most users would prefer the most modern and easiest to use method of identifying themselves to access any digital services – and they would also clearly prefer that what is done maximises  their security and privacy.

This article certainly makes it interesting to reflect on the scope of the ‘#myHR modernisation program’ and wonder if the need to go through the myGOV portal might – when delivering an re-designed and useful #myHealthRecord system – be moved to more direct modern individual access. I do realise that actually making the #myHR fit for purpose is a vastly more important priority and I would very much prefer that the need to update the ID system was obviated by simply saving all the money and just phasing the system out unless a fundamental review of value and clinical impact and utility of the whole system is undertaken and identifies that the system can really be made worthwhile and useful!

Overall it seems we now have two large scale ‘white elephants’ in the Government IT sector (the #myHR and the myGOV id system) both of which are in need a fundamental rethink, major change and a good deal of work!

David.