Bill Shorten appoints Victor Dominello to lead myGov panel

Mr Shorten said Mr Dominello, who served as NSW minister for customer service and digital government, was one of Australia's "top innovators" and a leader in this field.

"Mr Dominello was also recently appointed as chair of the Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel. His influence in both myGov and Digital ID developments will provide a more holistic approach to transforming government digital service delivery," he said.

Mr Shorten also appointed his former deputy chief of staff and director of policy, Amit Singh, to the group.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Singh worked as a senior policy adviser for former Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, before later serving in Mr Shorten's office from 2014-2016 when he was opposition leader.

In a press release, Mr Shorten's office referred to Mr Singh by his current title as managing partner at the consulting firm, Mandala.

A spokeswoman for Mr Shorten said Services Australia provided a shortlist of candidates to the minister, adding Mr Singh "served as a member of the myGov user audit, and as such, is an expert in this area".

"While he has been a former Labor government staffer, he has also worked as head of economic policy for Uber in the US and taught at Oxford University. He is eminently qualified to provide expert advice on the advisory panel," the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman highlighted the fact that the minister "reached across the aisle" to appoint a former Liberal state minister as chair, which "reflected his desire for all appointments to be based on merit".

"It makes no sense to say Labor can't hire people who have worked for previous governments but we can hire former Liberal ministers," she said.

The advisory group was a key recommendation made in this year's myGov user audit, which found users were having "difficulty finding what they need" in the app, and issues around "managing myGov accounts remain frustrating".

Mr Shorten said that the group's nine members "bring strong, balanced and wide ranging insights across fields such as governance, service delivery ethics, use of technology in digital service delivery and advocacy for both customers and service delivery staff".

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The group also includes several former prominent public servants, such as Professor Johanna Weaver, who led the Cyber Affairs Branch at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Former Department of Health associate secretary Caroline Edwards, who helped lead Australia's response to COVID-19, has also been tapped for the panel.

The announcement comes as the Albanese government moves to crack down on scammers targeting the myGov app.

Mr Shorten said that app will soon see several changes to how customers can sign-in, to better secure their accounts and protect personal information.

"Passkeys will be introduced to bring myGov further into the twenty-first century, allowing Australians the ability to use biometric options such as facial recognition to access the site," the minister said.

"These important sign-in alternatives are familiar to many Australians, and are a key safeguard against scammers who use phishing tactics to harvest personal information, like people's date of birth to fraudulently access accounts.

The full list of panel members are: