NSW has launched the Digital Birth Certificate through the Service NSW app, built to international standards for digital identity. The rollout, beginning in March 2026, targets 16 to 21-year-olds born in NSW who hold a photo card or driver licence. Hundreds of thousands of young people now have first access to their birth certificates on their mobile devices.
The shift from paper to pocket-sized identity documents reflects a broader modernisation of how Australians interact with government. The digital document aims to make it easy to locate a birth certificate on your phone, whenever and wherever you need it, without having to dig through drawers and storage boxes for the paper version. The digital birth certificate will be conveniently stored alongside other digital credentials in the Service NSW app, such as the Digital Driver Licence, reducing the risk of losing important documents.
A Digital Birth Certificate provides secure access to vital identity documents and will allow users greater control over which information they share and who they share it with. Young adults with a Digital Birth Certificate will initially be able to use it at Service NSW centres to apply for certain NSW Government transactions like the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) and Responsible Conduct of Gambling (RCG) competency card.
The government sees practical advantages beyond convenience. During natural disasters, the government often helps people whose birth certificates and other documents have been destroyed; a digital version provides a solution for those who need to verify their identity quickly to access services and apply for grants, rather than waiting for a replacement and delaying timely support.
There are legitimate questions about scope creep and data governance. Consultation is underway with government, businesses, and other organisations that need to verify customer identity to help ensure the digital birth certificate will be widely accepted. Over time, it is expected that the Digital Birth Certificate will be widely accepted by government, commercial, education and sporting organisations. Yet parents and users don't control what happens to the verification data collected during issuance, how long it's retained, or which systems can access it once the credential exists; the wallet holds the certificate while the state holds everything else.
The Digital Birth Certificate will be optional for those who are eligible to participate, and it complements the paper birth certificate, offering a convenient digital alternative for those who are eligible. In 2022, a regulation passed in NSW giving the digital birth certificate the same legal standing as the paper birth certificate.
Victoria is running its own parallel trial. After New South Wales, Victoria is also introducing digital birth certificates for parents to view and share their child's documents from a mobile wallet app, with the digital birth certificate first being trialled for enrolling children into kindergarten in three council areas. This suggests the technology may eventually become a national standard, though each state is developing its own approach.