[LINK] myGov, my goodness what a pickle

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Mon Dec 5 12:44:31 AEDT 2022


[ Maybe I'm duller than the average member of the population, but I'm a
bit befuddled by the many things called myGov.

[ Based on one Google, I can see:

1.  A mygov portal / entry-point / funnel / tool for the consolidation
    of Australia-Card-Register entries, which is "underpinned by the
    government digital experience platform (GOVDXP)":
    https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/about-mygov

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/services-australia-sets-changeover-date-for-mygov-583900

2.  A 'mygov-code-generator-app', link now broken:

https://my.gov.au/en/about/help/mygov-account/help-using-your-account/sign-in-to-mygov/use-the-mygov-code-generator-app

3.  MyGovID.  An identifier?  Or is it in app?  Provided by the ATO

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.gov.ato.mygovid.droid&hl=en_AU&gl=US
    https://apps.apple.com/au/app/mygovid/id1397699449
    (Ratings 2.0 and 1.6 / 5)
    https://www.mygovid.gov.au/using-mygovid-mygov

4.  A myGov app, under the auspices of the Dept of Human Services.
    This has finally been delivered, over 3 years since its announcement
    (or 8 years according to The Mandarin), and >1 year since due-date

    But I can't quickly find a government web-page explaining it.

Julian Bajkowski writes:
> The choice to send the myGov app live without Medicare embedded also
appears to indicate that other agencies, especially transactional ones
like Tax and Centrelink, are sufficiently frustrated to have given up on
waiting for Medicare to come to the party.
> Shorten’s declaration of a March deadline effectively puts Health on
notice that it will now be more directly held responsible for further
delays, the slowness of the agency being one of the reasons Medicare’s
transactional tech infrastructure was shifted to Services Australia in
the first place.


[ We look forward to reports by intrepid adventurers who like to know
how things work, and by people who are already trapped into the
compliance-net and are forced to use these things. ]

___________


myGov mobile app finally launches, ships with wallet and QR code ID
Julian Bajkowski
The Mandarin
Monday December 5, 2022
https://www.themandarin.com.au/207853-mygov-mobile-app-finally-launches-ships-with-wallet-and-qr-code-id/

Government services minister Bill Shorten has launched the long-delayed
myGov mobile app, bolting on a government electronic wallet to store
various credentials and cards as the Albanese government takes a cattle
prod to rolling-out integrated digital functionality across agencies.

Eight long years in the making, the myGov app is the federal
government’s answer to similar functionality already well-established in
states like New South Wales, which has routinely upstaged Canberra’s
notoriously glacial pace of delivery amid sometimes-frosty interagency
relations.

Launching the app at the Opera House in Sydney, Shorten said that he
hoped that the myGov app would be as iconic as the structure but would
not take 50 years to become so.

Shorten said that “at long last, and long overdue” Australia now finally
had a myGov app that would make services simpler, easier, quicker and
more accessible for millions of Australians.

“Today’s announcement means no more annoying myGov inbox announcements
that send you somewhere else to go somewhere else,” Shorten said.

To make that happen the app will harness commonly-used biometric checks,
like facial recognition, fingerprints or a six-digit number to access
the services directly from the handset that Shorten said would provide
access to 15 different government services.

“This shouldn’t be revolutionary news, but in government services we
have just taken a quantum leap forward in this country.”

Talking to the wallet, Shorten said it would include the Healthcare Card
and Seniors Healthcare Card on launch, but that the Medicare Card was
due to be included by March next year.

The fact that the myGov app and wallet have launched without embedded
Medicare Card functionality is demonstrative of longstanding legacy
systems issues at Medicare that now has its digital infrastructure
delivered by Service Australia.

The choice to send the myGov app live without Medicare embedded also
appears to indicate that other agencies, especially transactional ones
like Tax and Centrelink, are sufficiently frustrated to have given up on
waiting for Medicare to come to the party.

Shorten’s declaration of a March deadline effectively puts Health on
notice that it will now be more directly held responsible for further
delays, the slowness of the agency being one of the reasons Medicare’s
transactional tech infrastructure was shifted to Services Australia in
the first place.

Shorten said privacy was also being addressed in the myGov app through a
QR Code function that would enable people to use the codes to provide
the equivalent of 100 points of ID to prove their identity to both
public and private sector organisations who needed to verify identity.

Shorten stressed that this would bypass the need for organisations to
collect and store identity credentials, information that was recently
the target of hackers in a series of ransomware hacks and extortion
attempts against Medibank and Optus.

________

myGov mobile app lands at last
A year after first hoped.
itNews
5 December 2022
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/mygov-mobile-app-lands-at-last-588717

The long-delayed myGov app has at last been launched.

The previous government first flagged the idea of a native iOS and
Android app as the interface to myGov in 2019.

In July 2021, iTnews reported that the app was under development by
Accenture, IBM, and Arq Group working with Deloitte.

In October last year, Services Australia said it hoped to launch the app
in December 2021.

In August this year, Services Australia set a revised launch date before
the end of 2022, which has now been delivered.

Minister for government services Bill Shorten said the app promised
simplier sign-in using "a six-digit PIN or, if [users] prefer, the
phones’ security feature, such as fingerprint or face recognition."

There’s also a digital wallet to store government-issued cards and
documents, with QR codes to verify that documents are genuine and valid.

This means “providers do not need to store your personal information,"
Shorten said.

“You can currently add Centrelink concession cards and your
international Covid-19 vaccination certificate to the myGov wallet.
Soon, you’ll be able to add additional items, such as your Medicare card.”

________

Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University


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