The OpenID Foundation, through its Australian Digital Trust Community Group (ADT CG), has responded to the Australian Government’s Department of Finance consultation on verifiable credentials policy. 

The Australian Government's work on verifiable credentials (VCs) is a significant development in the ongoing evolution of the Australian Government Digital ID System (AGDIS), and one the OpenID Foundation is well positioned to support. The ADT CG provided comments on the high level questions posed in the consultation, drawing on the Foundation's global experience of building the open standards and conformance tooling that underpin interoperable digital identity ecosystems worldwide. 

In keeping with the Foundation's commitment to working openly and transparently, the ADT CG's full response has been published here.

The scope of the consultation

The Australian Government's Department of Finance sought views on the policy and regulatory settings needed for the Commonwealth's use of verifiable credentials to be safe and effective. Its questions ranged widely: the economic case for VCs and their potential to improve productivity, the use cases most worth the Commonwealth exploring, the scale of investment adoption would require, and the barriers facing holders, issuers, and verifiers. 

A central theme was the shape of a proposed Commonwealth VC Trust Framework - what it should address to be effective, whether it would be useful beyond a Commonwealth agency audience, and whether it should be guidance based rather than regulatory in nature. 

The consultation also asked how domestic and international interoperability of VCs and digital wallets can be achieved, how a multi-standards environment should be managed, how the inclusivity of government services can be supported and protected, and what risks and behaviors the Government should guard against as adoption grows.

Putting interoperability first

The central message of the ADT CG's response is that interoperability should remain a priority as the Department of Finance evolves AGDIS. Interoperability is the property that allows credentials and digital wallets to work across services, sectors, and borders. Prioritising it now will shape how effectively the ecosystem functions for issuers, verifiers, and holders alike.

Open standards to underpin the ecosystem

OpenID Foundation standards are already widely adopted by digital identity implementers and are well placed to underpin or play a role in AGDIS. These include OpenID for Verifiable Presentation, OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance, OpenID Connect, FAPI 2.0, OpenID Federation, and Shared Signals. Building on standards that are already proven at scale gives implementers a tested foundation and reduces the risk of fragmentation as the ecosystem grows.

Proving conformance through open, freely available tools

The ADT CG encourages the Australian community to make use of the OpenID Foundation's freely available, open-source conformance tests. These allow implementers to demonstrate that their deployments meet the security, privacy, interoperability, and scale properties built into the specifications. They provide a practical, low cost way to build confidence across the ecosystem.

Should the Australian Government establish an accreditation or conformance scheme that includes (but may not be limited to) OpenID Foundation specifications, it should consider leveraging these tests, and  the accreditation program due to launch later this year. Both services are available to ecosystems and are designed to help ecosystem partners meet their objectives, offering a way to establish assurance without building new infrastructure from the ground up.

As a global open standards body, the OpenID Foundation welcomes the opportunity to support the Australian community as this work progresses.

John Scullen, Head of Trust & Identity Strategy and Futures at the Australian Access Federation Ltd, and co-chair of the ADT CG, said: “The choices made now will determine whether Australia develops a single interoperable credential ecosystem or a collection of disconnected silos. Open standards, conformance testing and clear governance can provide a foundation that encourages participation while preserving competition, innovation and user choice.”

About the Australian Digital Trust Community Group

The Australian Digital Trust Community Group provides a neutral platform for professionals to collaborate on current and future Australian digital identity and trust ecosystems, with the objective of driving the uptake of interoperable, standards-based digital trust services. Membership to the ADT CG is open to all and members are not required to join the OpenID Foundation. The only requirement is to sign a participation agreement. 

To get involved, please join the mailing list.

About the OpenID Foundation

The OpenID Foundation (OIDF) is a global open standards body committed to building trusted identity ecosystems. Our mission is to lead the global community in identity standards that are secure, interoperable, and privacy respecting. Founded in 2007, we are a community of technical experts. The Foundation's OpenID Connect standard is now used by billions of people across millions of applications. More recently, the FAPI security profile - built on OAuth 2.0 - has become the standard of choice for interoperable Open Banking and Open Data implementations, while OpenID for Verifiable Credentials specifications underpin a new generation of digital wallets. Today, the OpenID Foundation's standards are the connective tissue that enable people to assert their identity and access their data at scale, the scale of the internet, enabling "networks of networks" to interoperate globally. Individuals, companies, governments and non-profits are encouraged to join or participate. Find out more at openid.net.