This appeared earlier last week:
Delayed myGov app launches sans Medicare card
Justin Hendry
Editor
5 December 2022
The federal government’s long-promised myGov app has finally launched, complete with a new digital wallet offering users the ability to prove their identity with a service provider using a QR code.
But the smartphone app, which was first flagged in 2019 and has taken the last 18 months to develop, is missing key features currently available on older apps operated by Services Australia.
Government Service minister Bill Shorten revealed the new myGov app on Monday, describing it as “another important step forward in the transformation of Australian government digital services”.
The app follows the launch of the revamped Adobe-based myGov platform in early September, a largely cosmetic upgrade offering a new layout to help people see their inbox messages and more clearly.
Additional functionality is expected to be added over time, with Minister Shorten flagging the potential to use myGov to nudge people to consider health screening earlier this year, for instance.
Initially developed by US consulting giant Deloitte under a $5.4 million contract that began in July 2021, the myGov app — a brain child of former minister Stuart Robert — has spent the last year in private beta testing mode.
Deloitte has also been heavily involved in the wider myGov redevelopment, having landed contracts worth more than $30 million since scoring the contract to develop a prototype for the new platform.
The new phone app gives users a digital wallet for storing government-issued cards and documents, much like the existing Centrelink and Medicare apps but with added digital verification.
Minister Shorten said the QR code can be scanned by providers to confirm whether the document is “genuine and valid, and means providers do not need to store… personal information”.
“This is a significant step forwards in tackling fraud and theft of these important documents,” he said of the digital wallet.
Centrelink concession cards, Healthcare cards and international Covid-19 vaccination certificate can be added to the myGov wallet immediately, while the Medicare card will arrive in March.
Linked services from the Australia Taxation Office, Medicare and My Health Record also appear to redirect to the web browser, suggesting integration is yet to take place.
More here:
https://www.innovationaus.com/delayed-mygov-app-launches-sans-medicare-card/
Reading this it sounds like the app is still rather half done but I guess that after 18 months the team responsible were keen to get something out the door!
There is more coverage here:
myGov Finally Gets a Standalone App, Something That Should’ve Happened Years Ago
Asha Barbaschow
December 5, 2022 at 2:44 pm
The federal government a few years ago launched myGov, an online portal that was meant to be an easy, and secure, way to access services online with one login and one password. Those who have used it know that it has been anything but.
Through myGov, users can link Australian JobSearch, Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Centrelink, Child Support, Department of Health Applications Portal, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, HousingVic Online Services, Medicare, My Aged Care, National Disability Insurance Scheme, National Redress Scheme, State Revenue Office Victoria and My Health Record services.
It never had an app, and logging in to access these government services wasn’t exactly straightforward. This was proven when many Aussies were trying to retrieve their vaccination certificates late last year.
Many of us, too, only knew of myGov because of the absolute heart-attack it brought on when an email was sent saying something to the effect of “You’ve got a new message in your myGov inbox”, particularly during those awful robodebt times. But today, we’ve been told we’re getting a myGov app.
Seems like even the minister who has absorbed the issue-plagued myGov, Bill Shorten, understands just how ridiculous these emails are.
The myGov app is available on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. To use it, you need a myGov account to set up the app (if you don’t have one, you can create one fairly easily).
The myGov app will use a six-digit PIN or your phone’s baked-in biometrics, such as fingerprint or face recognition.
There’s not too much to it at this stage, but the whole pitch is that the myGov app makes it simpler to sign in to your account, easier to view Inbox messages and it gives you quicker to access services. There is also a digital wallet where you can store some of your government digital cards and certificates – which would have been fantastic last year, but progress is progress. Medicare isn’t ready yet, but it will be and more features will be added to the myGov app “over time”.
More here:
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/12/mygov-app-australia/
This rather confirms we almost have a beta version of the app with lots more to come – over how long who knows?
At least we have a start to build on!
David.
2 comments:
What exactly is the mygov app going to do? Is it a wallet for gov't documents? Is it just a front door to other apps?
How many apps is the government going to produce?
We know about mygov and MyHR but will other agencies produce their own apps, or is the mygov app going to be the only app?
There doesn't seem to be any sort of overall plan for these things. Without a plan, they will all get in each other's way and produce confusion and errors.
Never mind the mygov app, what is mygov for?
Seems it was in order to enrich a vendor.
DTA mandated Adobe for myGov before business case and tender
https://www.innovationaus.com/dta-mandated-adobe-for-mygov-before-business-case-and-tender/
"Adobe was decided as the software provider for the new myGov platform before the federal government had even devised a business case or approached the market, raising questions about a project that has now cost at least $80 million."
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