NSW to overhaul licences for used-car dealers, beekeepers, boaties and more

Kickboxers, second-hand car dealers, beekeepers and boaties are all about to enter the age of digital regulation after the Minns government revealed it will plough $62.5 million into a new digital licencing system that, if successful, could become a national template for other states to adopt.

After decades of states complaining about the difficulty of disparate systems that can’t interoperate on the same level, like Australia’s infamous rail-gauge disconnect at the turn of the 20th century, the New South Wales government has bitten the bullet on a long-awaited overhaul of the state’s fragmented licencing and permits system.

Other states and Canberra are watching what NSW does next because it is substantially ahead of its peers and the federal government when it comes to digitised credentials.