Australia's Digital ID laws would be scrapped
Six senators want to cancel the 2024 laws that set up a national Digital ID system. They say it is a free choice on paper. They say it will become something you cannot avoid.
Official name: Digital ID Repeal Bill 2024
- The bill would cancel the Digital ID Act 2024 and its helper law in full.
- It would also undo the changes those laws made to six other laws.
- Its backers say people will end up being forced to use Digital ID in real life.
- It died in 2025 and was put back on the Senate's list. It has not been voted on.
Who it affects
- People who use a Digital ID to prove who they are online: The laws that set the rules for the system would be cancelled.
- Businesses and agencies that check who people are: The legal rules for Digital ID they rely on would no longer exist.
- People who care about privacy: The senators behind the bill say cancelling the laws would stop the government holding people's ID details in one place.
Digital ID passed in 2024
A Digital ID is a way to prove who you are online. You do not have to show paper documents. In 2024 Parliament passed the Digital ID Act 2024. It set rules for a national Digital ID system.
Six senators brought in this bill. They are Alex Antic, Ralph Babet, Matthew Canavan, Pauline Hanson, Gerard Rennick and Malcolm Roberts. It is a private senators' bill. That means it did not come from the government.
The senators say the Digital ID system is called a free choice. But they say the way it works will force it on people. They say anyone who wants to take part in everyday life will have to use it. They also point to the cases where the law lets people skip the free choice rule.
Two Digital ID laws cancelled
Part 1 cancels the whole Digital ID Act 2024.
Part 2 cancels the whole helper law that came with it. Its full name is the Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2024. That helper law made the main law fit with all the other national laws. It also handled the move to the new system.
Other laws changed back
The helper law changed six other laws so they would work with Digital ID. This bill undoes each of those changes.
The six laws cover several things. One lets courts review government decisions. One covers unfair treatment because of age. One covers the domestic spy agency. The others cover competition and shoppers' rights, privacy, and how the tax system is run.
Say you run a small business that checks who your customers are. If this bill passed, the national Digital ID rules you follow would no longer be law.
Start date
If passed, the bill would take effect on the day it was signed into law. That is done by the Governor-General, the King's representative.
If the Digital ID Act had not started yet, the bill would take effect right after it did. The senators say this stops their bill from reaching back in time.
Waiting in the Senate
The bill went to the Senate on 26 June 2024. The Senate is the second house of Parliament. The debate on its main idea started that same day.
The bill died when that Parliament ended on 21 July 2025. It was put back on the Senate's list of business on 27 August 2025.
It has not been voted on. It would need to pass the Senate and then the House of Representatives to become law.
Its journey through Parliament
| 26 Jun 2024 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 26 Jun 2024 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 21 Jul 2025 | Senate: Lapsed at end of Parliament |
| 27 Aug 2025 | Senate: Restored to Notice Paper |