Queensland digital drivers licence goes live

QUEENSLAND has become the latest Australian state to adopt digital driver’s licences, the technology to be rolled out to mobile phone users state-wide from November 1. The digital licence holds the same legal status as a physical driver’s licence and may be used as an official form of identification.

“Nothing is more important that the safety and security of your private information,” state government transport minister, Mark Bailey, told the ABC.

“We worked with our counterparts in other Australian states that have digital licences to ensure we learnt from the way they developed and released their apps. Queensland’s digital licence app will set the standard for mobile device licence apps across Australia and the world.”

But on Wednesday the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads warned of delays with the app, urging people to wait for “an issue to be fixed” before downloading it saying the issue is not privacy related, but instead related to the “user experience”.

“Ahead of the planned launch of the Queensland digital licence, we conducted a larger-scale final test of the app. We were not satisfied with the customer experience in that final check, so we are adjusting in response to the performance of the testing,” the department said in a statement.

“We will be doing further testing to check and to validate any changes that we make, and we will keep users informed.

“Some customers have experienced delays and so we are asking you to wait before downloading. We will let you know when the issue is resolved.

Nearly 6000 users have already downloaded the app.

Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads acting director general, Sally Stannard, suggested Queenslanders wait until later in the week before attempting to download the app.

“Just take your time. There is a queue of people trying to download (the app). We don’t want you to have to wait, so perhaps wait until tomorrow (or) try again a bit later in the week. We will continue to work (on the issue) at our end,” she said.

Bizarrely, despite the introduction of the new technology, Queensland licence holders will still be required to renew their physical licence and identification cards as they expire and continue to pay renewal fees.

The app only allows a licence holder to leave the physical card at home and rely on the digital version of their licence as a form of identification. It can store other government-issued photo identification, including marine licences.

Other Australian states including South Australia and New South Wales have already introduced digital driver’s licence apps, with Victoria currently trailing the technology in the regional city of Ballarat.

With ABC.