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1 Nov, 2015

Australia to trial cloud passports in world-first move – Sydney Morning Herald

Australia is looking at trialling passport-less travel in a move Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop predicts will go global.

The idea of cloud passports is the result of a hipster-style-hackathon held at the Department of Foreign Affairs, which culminated in an X-Factor style audition before the secretary Peter Varghese, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, Assistant Minister Steve Ciobo and Chris Vein from the World Bank.

Earlier this year the call was put out to the diplomatic corps in Canberra and the 110 missions around the world for any idea that would provide a radical rethink of business as usual. More than half the department’s staff responded by submitting, or by voting or commenting on one of the 392 pitches to the “DFAT Ideas challenge”.

Read the rest: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-to-trial-cloud-passports-in-worldfirst-move-20151028-gkkkr3.html#ixzz3qE7MpfOH