New digital capability for Commonwealth statutory declarations
A statutory declaration is a statement of facts a person declares to be true and accurate. Historically, statutory declarations have been paper-based, requiring wet-ink signatures and executed in front of an approved witness.
The digital Commonwealth statutory declaration combines the digital capability of myGov and Digital ID to deliver an end-to-end digital process that is simple, accessible and secure.
The delivery of the new digital capability follows changes to statutory declarations legislation that came into effect on 1 January 2024. Australians can now complete Commonwealth statutory declarations online for things like visa applications, superannuation claims, employment and leave without requiring a witness.
Completed statutory declarations can be downloaded to a phone or computer for printing or sharing as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file to verify the:
- user's identity through their Digital ID
- statutory declaration being executed in myGov on a specific date and time.
Requestors of Commonwealth statutory declarations can also verify the authenticity of the completed declaration by scanning the QR code embedded in the document using the myGov app.
This is a significant step forward in tackling fraud and enables statutory declarations to be quickly shared digitally, if required.
Working together
Finance, Attorney-General's Department and Services Australia worked in partnership to jointly design and deliver the digital Commonwealth statutory declaration capability.
A team of experienced policy, financial and legal experts, designers and technical developers across all 3 agencies worked collaboratively during 2023–24. The team successfully delivered the first-of-its-kind digital solution.
Finance led a user-centred design process, underpinned by research and economic modelling, to understand user pain points and identify reform opportunities and potential benefits for Australians.
Services Australia managed the design, build and delivery of the digital Commonwealth statutory declaration capability in myGov, using a Digital ID.
Attorney General’s Department managed legislative reforms to the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 to enable digital Commonwealth statutory declarations while ensuring compliance with personal information safeguards and relevant privacy laws.
The case for change was informed by extensive stakeholder engagement with a diverse cross-section of approximately 100 stakeholders. This helped develop the problem identification, solution co-design, technology design and development, and legislative design phases of the project.
Benefits for the community
Australian businesses and consumers spend an estimated 9 million hours each year on creating and processing more than 3.8 million Commonwealth statutory declarations.
Digital execution of statutory declarations is expected to save Australians $156 million in time and costs each year and deliver a productivity bonus to the national economy.
As at 31 August 2024, more than 34,000 Commonwealth statutory declarations were completed online, with an average completion time of 4 minutes.
Early indications show the service has been positively received with some feedback highlighting the need to give more attention to customers with diverse needs. Options to improve user experience and accessibility, and to promote wider adoption of the service, are being explored.
Australians can continue to execute statutory declarations through the traditional, paper-based method with a witness should they wish to do so.
Find out more
Australian Government (n.d.) Digital Commonwealth statutory declaration, myGov website, accessed 17 September 2024.