Modernised National Identity Proofing Guidelines set to ensure Australians’ identities remain safe

The Albanese Government has today announced refreshed and modernised National Identity Proofing Guidelines to help better protect Australians from identity fraud.

From the public sector to banks, the guidelines will ensure that all organisations have guidance on the best ways to establish a person is who they say they are through identity proofing, which often includes comparing information such as a driver’s license to records held by Government.

To keep pace with evolving technology and identity proofing techniques, the guidelines have, for the first time, been modernised to include guidance on biometric proofing, like facial recognition.

Ensuring the guidelines remain fit-for-purpose is essential in ensuring that opportunistic scammers and criminals cannot use Australians’ personal information to commit fraud or other crimes.

The updated guidelines are designed to allow organisations the flexibility to apply them in a way that works best for them and that addresses their specific identity related risks.

The refresh of the guidelines – the first since 2016 - is an initiative under the 2023 National Strategy for Identity Resilience, which sets out how the Australian, state and territory governments work together to strengthen identity infrastructure and build resilient identities.

The National Identity Proofing Guidelines are available to view.

Quotes attributable to the Attorney-General, Hon Michelle Rowland MP:

“The Albanese Labor Government is committed to ensuring that all Australians have resilient identities that are hard to steal, easy to restore and enable access to everyday services and business activities.

“Strong identity proofing is critical to help protect Australians from fraudulent activity, strengthen Australia’s identity resilience and ensures our documents and processes are consistent and trusted across private and public sector organisations.

“The refreshed and modernised guidelines will further strengthen identity proofing practices, encourage greater national consistency through a principles and risk-based approach and support organisations undertaking identity proofing for both physical identity credentials and digital ID”.