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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Doug Dingwall

New boss appointed to the Digital Transformation Agency

Queensland government official and former Service NSW bureaucrat Christopher Fechner will take the helm of the Commonwealth's digital technology agency.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert on Wednesday announced Mr Fechner had been appointed the new chief executive of the Digital Transformation Agency for five years.

"Mr Fechner will bring proven and strong leadership to the DTA, as it plays its key role in our ambitious push to become one of the top three digital governments in the world by 2025," Mr Robert said.

"A key part of delivering on this ambition is delivering simple, secure and trusted digital services, making it easy for people and businesses to deal with government.

"Mr Fechner's experience in senior digital roles within the Queensland and NSW governments will serve the DTA well in driving this key government priority."

Peter Alexander has been acting chief executive since the departure of former agency head Randall Brugeaud, who left to join a taskforce reviewing international trade regulations and modernising outdated IT systems.

Mr Fechner is currently the Queensland government's chief customer and digital officer and was previously the chief digital and product officer at Service NSW.

He will begin his new role on October 13.

Mastercard announced on Monday it had partnered with the DTA and is seeking accreditation to become a digital identity service provider, saying it was looking to offer ways for the federal government to achieve an online age verification system.

MORE PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS:

The agency's trusted digital identity framework forms part of a government push to streamline the identity system. It provides users with access to government services and benefits using a reusable digital identity without needing to present official forms each time.

The framework would allow third-party private providers to join onto the system too.

The federal government announced three years ago it wanted to make Australia one of the top three countries in the world for digital government by 2025, and for almost all government services to be available online in the next seven years.

The Digital Transformation Agency is developing a digital identity framework. Picture: Shutterstock
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