Published on the 17/12/2025 | Written by Heather Wright
App debut aligns digital identity plans…
New Zealand is ramping up its digital identity infrastructure with the launch of a digital identity services channel on the government’s Pae Hokohoko marketplace and the rollout of the govt.nz mobile app.
The two launches come as the Department of Internal Affairs promises that 2026 is going ‘to be a big year for digital identity in New Zealand’, with the first digital credentials due to be issued and the digital wallet in the government app ‘coming soon’.
“2026 is going to be a big year for digital identity in New Zealand, with the first credentials due to be issued and the digital wallet in the government app coming soon.”
Paul James, Government chief digital officer, says the work to establish New Zealand’s digital identity ecosystem is a key priority for him.
“There are efficiencies to be gained by agencies using Marketplace for procurement and for New Zealanders to have the option to use digital credentials to improve their identity and other attributes.”
The new digital identity services channel on the all-of-government marketplace will provide a formal catalogue for agencies to procure identity and authentication tools. It includes individual services and solutions to support the delivery and use of digital identity capabilities, including authentication services, binding services which ensure personal or organisational information is correctly linked to the right individual or entity and can include biometrics and identity binding APIs, information services and verification support services.
The channel aims to standardise identity procurement, reduce duplication, cost and effort across agencies and provide a secure and trusted framework for identity attributes, and will function as a controlled entry point into the public sector market for vendors.
The Department of Internal Affairs says 234 government agencies use the marketplace with more than $874 million spent there.
Credential services are not included – they are handled through the all of government issuance platform – and nor are independent evaluation services, with the marketplace intended to sit alongside, rather than replace, existing identity infrastructure.
Also not included are facilitation services, with agencies directed to use the digital wallet provided in the govt.nz app.
Getting app-y
That app has just launched, in its basic form, enabling users to access government information and services.
Judith Collins, digitising government minister, says the app currently allows access to information and services and receive emergency warning from trusted sources including the National Emergency Management Agency and Fire and Emergency, along with the ability to customise your experience by saving services most relevant to you to your personal dashboard.
The real transformation, however, comes next year with the addition of a digital wallet to hold identity credentials such as driver’s licenses and qualifications, once law changes are passed early next year. (Also on the cards for next year is the ability to handle secure messaging and notifications.)
Collins says the digital wallet component should be ready for digital licenses in Q3 next year.
The app – which Collins has been a pains to say will ‘always be optional’, with people still able to access government services ‘in a range of ways’ – is effectively being positioned as New Zealand’s central digital identity platform, providing a single mobile gateway to access government services, interacting with agencies through a single secure platform, receiving notifications and completing transactions in the unified environment rather than traversing multiple websites, chatbots and call centres.
Kiwi tech company Mattr has also been charged with building a new shared service platform to make it easier for government agencies to issue secure digital credentials – with those credentials issued into the govt.nz app.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will be among the first to trial the platform, using it to issue digital credentials to company directors.
The introduction of the digital identity services channel on the marketplace and the govt.nz app represent a shift in how government and business will manage identity verification and signals the emergence of a government-backed identity framework that could eventually extend beyond the public sector.
They follow news last month that Hospitality New Zealand and NEC have joined forces to create a digital version of the Kiwi Access Card – previously the 18+ card – to provide age verification via smartphone and biometric checks.
The developments follow the finalisation of the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework rules last month, setting out how accredited identity services must operate.
