Digital ID is on the way, but don’t ditch your wallet just yet

Sunday, 27 July 2025

Work to digitise New Zealand, including the rollout of accredited forms of digital identification, is well under way. But the Government admits it’s “unlikely” to come this year. Stewart Sowman-Lund explains.

The race is on for the first official form of digital identification to be rolled out in New Zealand, though it’s “unlikely” to be this side of Christmas.

Hospitality NZ had previously expressed a desire to be the first cab off the rank, with plans to digitise its privately-delivered but officially-recognised Kiwi Access Card - formally known as the 18+ Card.

However, while it was originally aiming to launch a digital version before the end of the year, the industry group confirmed it had since been pushed back.

“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,” Hospitality NZ’s chief executive Steve Armitage said.

“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.”

But precisely how far away that day is remains up in the air, with multiple public and private providers working on forms of official digital ID.

While a government-developed digital wallet is expected to be released by the end of the year, it’s understood it could take a few extra months before anything can be added to it.

Myles Ward, deputy government chief digital officer at the Department of Internal Affairs, said that included a planned digital driver’s license.

“The New Zealand Transport Agency are currently working with Australian counterparts to develop shared infrastructure for the issuance of a mobile driver licence,” he said.

“Immigration New Zealand is considering a digital ID credential for migrants as part of its overhaul of the immigration system.”

The plan, in short, is to create a model where people hold their own official information on their device without the need for a third party to verify it, such as the outdated Real Me system.

With that comes myriad opportunities, ranging from the more menial (such as being able to ditch your physical wallets when buying alcohol or driving) through to the more complex (like opening a bank account or verifying official documents).

Feasibly, we are also heading toward a reality in which physical passports and visas won’t be needed for international travel.

Aside from being simpler, it could also save money (it’s $247 for a new adult passport) and time (it can take 10 working days for a driver’s licence to arrive in the post). Issuing a digital ID would be cheap and, in some instances, immediate.

But there are also challenges. Privacy is the most obvious, but new tech is also required to enable a digital ID system to work securely.

That backroom work was “already well progressed”, confirmed the Department of Internal Affairs.

“Rather than relying on a single ‘digital ID’, New Zealanders will be able to request, hold, and present digital credentials from multiple issuers, such as a mobile driver licence, a digital visa, or credentials issued by trusted private providers (for example, a bank),” said Ward.

Andy Higgs, executive director at Digital Identity NZ, said it could go a lot further too - allowing people to hold accredited credentials from “people… and brands we trust”, whether it be a bank, the AA, Air New Zealand or even an iwi.

“Because the other thing about the system … people have choice. They don't have to go with the government.”

To support issuers, the Department of Internal Affairs will create a digital wallet, alongside the already-released NZ Verify app that allows for the verification of digital credentials (some countries, including parts of Australia, have already started rolling out digital ID).

“New Zealanders will increasingly be able to prove who they are in-person and online in a more secure, privacy-preserving manner with trusted digital identity credentials and services,” said Ward.

The digital wallet was required because existing ones, such as those provided by Apple and Google, won’t work with accredited IDs - at least in the immediate future.

Higgs explained: “If one of the banks issues an ID for your bank account, for example, or NZ Post for your proof of address, or any of these other credentials where you're an authoritative source - Apple won't necessarily store that in their wallet. They don't have to,” he said.

“They'll only do if it's commercially advantageous to them. So that's why we need our own wallet.”

The Department of Internal Affairs this week confirmed tech vendor Dave Clark NZ would build the “core Government App”, while Mattr would “supply the digital wallet technology”.

That follows the launch of the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework last November, which laid out the accreditation system for digital identity services, and the launch of a tender in April to identify suppliers who can help build up the accreditation infrastructure.

An updated set of trust framework rules was also released this week. They include enhanced privacy provisions, “stopping an issuer from tracking your digital ID”.

All of this needs to happen before any form of ID can be rolled out.

Minister for Digitising Government Judith Collins has made clear her desire to develop New Zealand’s wider digital economy, though she wouldn’t be interviewed by the Sunday Star-Times to explain where things were at.

However, in a statement, she said the Government was “working at pace” to make a digital identity system a reality.

It was, she added, “unlikely” that any Government-issued digital IDs - such as a driver’s licence - would be available before the end of the year.

“I expect to be able to make further announcements about the progress of these projects in the near future. We also welcome the private sector issuing digital IDs in accordance with the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework.”

Higgs believed that a digital framework would actually be more secure than the current system - though it would require public buy-in.

“The short statement is: you can actually enhance privacy and security if you do this in the right way,” he said.

“You’re unable to get accredited if there’s any server retrieval of data … [and] that’s polling a database or recording or storing the data on your database.”

It also won’t be an overnight shift; you only need to think of how long it took for PayWave to be widely adopted, followed by Apple Pay.

“I think there is quite a lot of work to do in terms of educating the public, but also even educating politicians, because obviously people don't think you can prove your age online without giving away valuable data - it's actually quite a binary thing to prove you're over 18,” he said.

“You can do it in a cryptographically secure way, where you're only saying it's a ‘green, red, I'm over 18’ - no name, no birth date.”

A Digital Trust Hui will be held in Wellington next month, and will include an update on the digital identity programme.

Higgs remained hopeful there would be movement before the end of the year.

“There's no such thing as a definite, but the signals that I've been reading from Minister Collins, from DIA, from private players … I would say, if we haven't got there by Christmas, there’s something wrong,” he said.

“I would say one of the banks, at least, will come out with a credential by the end of the year.”

Banks spoken to by the Star-Times were onboard with the government’s work, but had little to offer in terms of a timeline.

Westpac’s chief information officer Russell Jones said the bank supported the introduction of centralised digital ID technology and was working with government departments to “help build a clearer picture of how the technology could work, and what other benefits it would bring for consumers”.

Meanwhile, a Kiwibank spokesperson confirmed it was not developing a digital ID solution - but recognised the potential benefits. “We remain actively engaged in industry discussions around the rollout of a national digital ID framework.”

And Hospitality NZ remained committed to being “one of the first” to launch an accepted form of digital ID.

“We're currently working closely with DIA and our technical partners to make this a reality,” said Armitage.

Digital identification was the “most important” thing for New Zealand to get right, Higgs claimed.

“Especially with the big AI platforms sucking us dry -and data sovereignty is a treaty issue, it's like our digital land. So we need to put some safeguards in place, and digital identity will help do that.”

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