Digital identity has the power to unlock productivity, security and convenience for Australian citizens, businesses and governments. So, it was the perfect topic for our second Tech Policy Hypotheticals event with our Parliamentary Friends of Tech Policy in Parliament House on 14 February 2024.

Professor Johanna Weaver transported our Co-Chairs, Panellists and Discussants several years into the future to unpack what success looks like, dispel myths and misunderstandings, and to dig into the core questions of:
– voluntariness
– law enforcement access, and
– public versus private sector involvement

The opportunity of this national reform is clear, but the challenge is trust. That’s why we must get the technical architecture, policy and legislative frameworks, and communications strategy right.

At Tech Policy Design Centre, we love creative multistakeholder, non-partisan, policy-first problem-solving.

Through our scenarios, a dynamic discussion unfolded between our group of experts and legislators:
– it allowed us to think about the issues differently
– facilitated the sharing of expertise and views across industry, government, civil society, and political parties
– set the scene for informed debates to continue in Australia this year, in and outside of Parliament

A huge thanks to the leadership and fearless participation of our Co-Chairs: The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, Senator David Pocock; Ms. Kate Chaney MP, Dr. Michelle Ananda-Rajah MP, Senator David Shoebridge.

Our Panelists:
Lizzie O’Shea of Digital Rights Watch, The Hon. Victor Dominello of ServiceGen, Amit Singh of Mandala, and
John Pane of Electronic Frontiers Australia,

Discussants:
Ben Rice of Tech Council of Australia, Simon Bush of AIIA,
John Mackenney of Adobe, Paul Warren-Tape of IDVerse – An OCR Labs Company, and Jessica O’Meara of Telstra Enterprise.
 

About the Tech Policy Group of Friends

The Parliamentary Group of Friends of Tech Policy provides a non-partisan forum for parliamentarians to meet and interact with experts from academia, civil society, and industry on tech policy and regulation matters. Its Co-Chairs are The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah MP, Kate Chaney MP, Senator David Pocock, and Senator David Shoebridge.

About the ANU Tech Policy Design Centre

The Tech Policy Design Centre is a nonpartisan, independent research organisation at the Australian National University. Our mission is to shape technology for the long-term benefit of humanity. We work to mature the tech-governance ecosystem in collaboration with industry, government, civil society, and academia.

About Professor Johanna Weaver

Professor Weaver is the founding Director of the Tech Policy Design Centre at the Australian National University. Earlier, she was Australia’s chief cyber negotiator at the United Nations. A recovering diplomat and a reformed commercial litigator, Professor Weaver is proudly neurodiverse. She champions tech policy as a tool to shape technology for the long-term benefit of humanity.