The Queensland government is rolling out digital licences in a staggered approach starting with Townsville residents being able to download their IDs from next week.
Driver's licences, marine licences and photo identification cards will be accessible via a phone app designed by the Thales Group.
The technology will bring Queensland in line with New South Wales and South Australia.
Townsville is the first city to use the app, which has been redesigned after a pilot program that involved more than 700 Wide Bay residents.
The coastal north region of approximately 235,000 people was chosen because of its large cohort of young people.
The first groups to access the app next week will be the Townsville Chamber of Commerce, the Townsville Liquor Accords and Palm Island representatives, as well as local, state and federal government agencies.
Several chosen businesses and industry groups can also access the app first.
Staggered trial approach
Member for Mundingburra Les Walker says the remaining Townsville residents will be able to access their digital licences as their postcode is added to the trial.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads is continuing to collect feedback on the app before it is more broadly distributed.
"Any tweaking that needs to be done will be carried out before it goes out wider," Mr Walker said.
"These are critical groups that will be asked to provide feedback."
The trial was due to roll out late last year but was postponed after data breaches at Optus and Medibank.
"Because there have been so many data breaches across the country there was some more testing carried out to make sure it met the high standards for the Department of Transport and Main Roads," Mr Walker said.
"They are highly confident of managing the information in their system."
The Department of Transport and Main Roads will notify Townsville residents when they can download their digital licence from early May.
Digital licences are expected to be available across Queensland by 2024.
