Digital Proof of Identity

If you have any questions about this document, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this Notice.

This notification is also in other accessible mediums, if required.

Who we are

Digital NSW are part of the NSW Department of Customer Service.

We assist other NSW Government Agencies with their business operations by providing digital software and solutions, and handling and storing customer data on their behalf.

Why we handle your personal information

Digital NSW handles your personal information on behalf of other NSW Government Agencies.

We provide NSW Government Agencies with access to the Attorney General Department’s Document Verification Service so that they can check your identity documents and verify your identity.

If you choose not to provide your personal information

If you don’t want to use the Document Verification Service to check your identity documents, you should contact the NSW Government Agency you’re dealing with. They will tell you about other ways to prove your identity, such as by doing it in person or providing your documents to the Agency directly. However, you may not be able to access the Agency’s services until your identity has been confirmed.

How your personal information is collected

Our NSW Government Agency partners collect your information when you use their services, whether that’s online, on paper forms, or over the telephone.

The following types of information may be collected by the Agency you’re dealing with and shared with us so that we can process your document check through the Document Verification Service:

• Document type
• Document holder name
• Document holder date of birth
• Document holder gender
• Document registration/licence number
• Document issuing authority/state
• Document start/expiry date(s)

How Digital NSW handles your personal information

We use your information to verify your identity documents.

The information you provide will be sent to the Document Verification Service (DVS) Hub, administered by the Attorney-General’s Department, and matched against official records held by the government agency responsible for issuing the identity document (document issuer).

The DVS Hub will advise us of whether the information you provide matches official records.

Once the document check is complete, the Agency you’re dealing with may or may not retain the information you provided to prove your identity. To confirm what happens, you should check the Agency’s Privacy Collection Notice.

How the Attorney-General’s Department handle your personal information

The DVS Hub facilitates information transfer between Digital NSW and the document issuer. The DVS Hub itself does not retain any personal information and the Attorney-General’s Department cannot view or edit any of the personal information transmitted through the DVS Hub. 

The Attorney-General’s Department engages a third-party provider as a managed service provider for the DVS, who is required to adhere to the APP requirements and security standards to ensure the use and disclosure of personal information is limited to explicitly defined purposes including:

a) for the purposes of the contract with the department; and

b) to comply with any request under section 95C of the Privacy Act.

The Attorney-General’s Department is authorised to operate the DVS Hub for the purpose of verifying individual’s identities under the IVS Act.

For more information on how the Attorney-General’s Department may handle your personal information, see the Attorney-General’s Department’s Identity Verification Services Privacy Statement.

How the document issuer handles your personal information

Your personal information will be shared by the Attorney General’s Department via the DVS Hub with the government agency that issued your identity document to verify it against their official records. These agencies already hold your personal information as part of their official records, in line with their own privacy policies and legal obligations.

Who we share your personal information with

We will not disclose your information to anybody else, except:

• As outlined in this Privacy Collection Notice.
• With the NSW Government Agency you want to verify your identity with.
• When you have given us your consent to do so.
• Where we are authorised to do so by law.

The Attorney-General’s Department’s verification assistance service

There may be circumstances in which we will require assistance to verify your identity. If we request assistance from the Attorney-General’s Department to verify your identity through the DVS, the Attorney-General’s Department will collect your personal information for the purposes of verifying your identity documents through the DVS.

The Attorney-General’s Department may also disclose your personal information to the relevant document issuer to assist them with verifying your identity documents. This collection is authorised under APP 5.2(c) and section 27 of the IVS Act which permits the collection of your personal information from someone other than yourself when it is authorised under an Australian law.

The Attorney-General’s Department will handle your personal information in accordance with their obligations under the Privacy Act.

Where the identity document(s) you require to be verified include information regarding other individuals (such as a Medicare card covering multiple individuals), it will be assumed that you have advised those individuals and obtained their consent to the disclosure. This information will only be used for the purposes of verifying your identity document(s) through the DVS. Any personal information of other individuals will otherwise be managed in the same way as your personal information.

There may be overseas disclosure of your personal information to recipients located in New Zealand where New Zealand government agencies or private organisations request for verification assistance of your identity document(s).

If you don’t provide your personal information to the Attorney-General’s Department, the Department will be unable to verify your identity document(s).

More information about the verification assistance service is set out in the Attorney-General’s Department’s Identity Verification Services Privacy Statement.

How we keep information secure

We maintain a Privacy Management Plan, which outlines how we comply with NSW privacy laws, and the measures we have in place to help protect personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

Your rights

Subject to certain conditions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• The right to request access to your personal information.
• The right to request correction of your personal information.

If you wish to invoke any of the above rights, please contact us using the details below.

Contact us

Please visit Government Technology Platforms Privacy for more information on our privacy practices.

Alternatively, if you would like to make a privacy enquiry or complaint, you can contact us using the details below.