The Department of Home Affairs has announced plans to replace the Incoming Passenger Card completed by Australia-bound travellers, with a new digital system it says will support the quick and secure collection of incoming passenger information.
The new Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) is to be completed on the traveller’s mobile device or computer.
Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, said that currently, passenger contact and declaration information was collected on paper cards, which were scanned and processed manually.
“In a COVID world, this information is an invaluable source for contact tracing and the manual process could slow down efforts to control the virus,” Mr Robert said.
“The DPD will facilitate information being collected and shared more efficiently while still using the same authority for collection.”
He said the DPD would also allow COVID-19 vaccination certificates to be digitally uploaded and connected if and when they became available.
“Home Affairs will also develop a simple digital visa product to test the integration capabilities of the system,” Mr Robert said.
“It is envisaged that other visas would be progressively digitised on the new system, making them easier to access, more secure and have greater integrity.”
He said a new underlying digital platform would be built to support the initial applications.
“It will be built as a reusable, whole of government, permissions capability, in the same manner the Australian Government is developing a single entitlements platform that supports multiple departments,” Mr Robert said.
