New Zealand is advancing its digital transformation in the public sector through a reorganization of digital investment and procurement processes. The government has also committed to introducing mobile driver licenses by the end of 2025.
The minister responsible [1] for digital transformation expressed a strong interest in introducing a comprehensive application designed for digital identification. Judith Collins who [2] is the Minister for Digitizing Government and the Public Service said, “Taking a centralised approach to digital investment and procurement could save up to 30 percent on the projected $13 billion technology spend across the public sector in the next five years.This potentially saves a huge amount of taxpayer money and that's money that can instead be spent on delivering better public services, for the benefit of all New Zealanders. Siloed, bespoke technology solutions will be a thing of the past. Our target is a citizen-focused, digital-first public service like we see in other leading digital nations. Countries such as Estonia achieve significant, ongoing savings and productivity benefits thanks to their efficient digitised public services; our changes will set New Zealand up to emulate those successes.”
Collins states that the digitization initiative encompasses [3] the NZ Government App, designed to deliver secure government notifications and enable users to store digital identity documents, such as the New Zealand digital driver's license. Wellington news outlet The Post reports [4] that Collins is committed to launching the app and mDL technology, but she will only proceed once she is confident in its readiness. “The main thing is not to stuff it up, It's not a big bang theory. It's a small bang theory. And we add as we go, a bit like Lego, we're adding on. We have to treat them as though they have an opportunity to go elsewhere, even when they don't,” said Collins.
The application is designed to serve as a central digital hub for accessing government services. Collins describes the project as a gradual, step-by-step initiative, with the ultimate aim of enabling the app to provide documentation and processes related to car registrations, tolls, Inland Revenue and taxes, government benefits payments, as well as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, and parking fines over time. Hospitality NZ previously [5] indicated its intention to be a leader in the development of a digital version of the Kiwi Access Card, officially known as the 18+ Card. The organization had initially aimed to launch this digital version by the end of the year; however, it has now confirmed that the timeline has been delayed.
Steve Armitage who is [6] the Hospitality NZ’s chief executive said, “November and December are peak periods for hospitality venues, so a Q1 2026 rollout gives us a better window to onboard merchants and ensure a smooth experience for both businesses and the public. We're optimistic about the timelines and the market's readiness, and are pushing forward ambitiously as we'd love to give Kiwis access to digital IDs as soon as we can. The day you can head to the pub without your wallet isn't far away.”
However in Australia is pushback against a similar legislation called the Digital ID Bill 2024, In a political column [7] titled New Digital ID Bill raises serious privacy concerns for Australians, Ian Aldridge and Gianluca Pecora said, “The centralisation of every Australian citizen’s private and sensitive information in one place should be enough in and of itself to be feared, and we have now seen instances around the world where the centralisation of this data presents a real problem,” they then said, “This is an extremely dangerous proposition. It also represents a serious incursion into the legal rights of Australian citizens to privacy. Most don’t really know how fundamental that right is until it is taken away. The problem is, once we provide these powers to the government, it is extremely difficult, if not practically impossible, to gain those freedoms back.”