myGov: the shortcut to Commonwealth Statutory Declarations

From 12 February 2024, any person who needs to make a Commonwealth statutory declaration can do so digitally through myGov using their “Digital Identity”, without the requirement for a prescribed person to witness the declaration.

Statutory declarations serve various legal and administrative purposes, such as confirming personal details, or satisfying requirements for government agencies or institutions. Some common uses for Commonwealth statutory declarations include visa applications and insurance claims.

The introduction of digital verification is a further development in the execution of Commonwealth statutory declarations following the amendment to the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (Cth) that came into effect on 1 January 2024. Read our article about the amendments to the Act here.

The new methods for execution of a statutory declaration, and in particular, the creation of statutory declarations via myGov aim to make the process more efficient and accessible.

To use myGov to create and verify a Commonwealth statutory declaration, a declarant must have a myGov account and must set up and connect a Digital Identity to that account. The declarant will only need to set up their Digital Identity once, but it must be verified for each statutory declaration.

Once the declarant’s Digital Identity has been verified, the declarant can then insert all necessary details as prompted in the portal and create their statutory declaration.

Each digital Commonwealth statutory declaration will contain a QR code to help third parties determine whether the statutory declaration is valid. The QR code is encrypted with the information provided in the declaration. Any person who has a copy of the digital declaration will be able to scan the QR code in the myGov app to verify the declaration by comparing the text and details on the QR code page with the declaration received.

It is important to note that myGov will not store statutory declarations, or any details contained in a statutory declaration after it is created, so each declaration prepared through myGov must be downloaded and saved locally. The myGov account will only log the date that each statutory declaration is created and a Document ID. The declaration information accessed via the QR code is not stored on myGov, but is instead saved on the QR code itself. myGov retains additional information that is used to decode the information from its encrypted form into readable text.

The introduction of digital execution of Commonwealth statutory declarations is likely to make execution less administratively cumbersome for declarants – particularly those in rural, remote or regional areas in Australia or overseas, where access to a prescribed person to witness the declaration may be limited.

Of course, Commonwealth statutory declarations can continue to be executed using the traditional paper-based wet-ink method in front of a prescribed person, or via electronic signing in front of a prescribed person, if that is preferred.

This article provides general comments only. It does not purport to be legal advice. Before acting on the basis of any material contained in this article, we recommend that you seek professional advice.


Co-Author

Name: Narisse Fechner

Position: Lawyer

Practice: Transactions

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