Many workplaces require a medical certificate or statutory declaration if an employee needs to take sick leave or carer’s leave, but a trip to the doctor can be an expensive and time-consuming exercise.

Since February 2024, Australians have been able to create their own digital statutory declarations (or stat decs) for free, without the need to have them witnessed by a Justice of the Peace.

You can create a free digital stat dec through your myGov account, using a digital ID.

However, it’s also important to know the implications of creating your own legal document.

Here’s what you need to know to create your own digital stat dec.

What is a digital stat dec?

A digital Commonwealth statutory declaration is a digital version of a typical stat dec document — a statement of facts which you declare to be true and accurate.

The digital version can verify your identity without the need for a witness, but it is still a legal document and can be used as evidence.

As the myGov website states: “If you write something in a statutory declaration and you know it’s not true, you can be charged with a criminal offence."

Statutory declarations often need to be created for things such as insurance claims, visa applications, superannuation claims, and for employment and leave administration.

There are usually two types of stat decs: Commonwealth stat decs, covered by federal legislation or matters in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT); and state and territory stat decs, for local matters including licences and road tolls.

As of September 2023, Australians were estimated to spend 9 million hours each year creating more than 3.8 million stat decs.

The federal government said law reforms enabling digital stat decs — which made permanent some temporary measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic — were expected to save Australians $156 million in time and costs each year.


You need a myGov account and a digital ID to create a digital statutory declaration. Photo: myGov

How to create a digital statutory declaration

A digital Commonwealth statutory declaration can be created for free through the myGov website or the myGov app.

To create a stat dec you must have a myGov account, have verified your identity using the government’s Digital Identity system, and connected your digital ID to your myGov account.

This is what allows a digital stat dec to be legally binding without the need for a physical witness.

To set up your Digital Identity, download the mygovID app, enter your details, and verify your identity to “standard identity strength” — this will require at least two identity documents.

Once your Digital Identity is established, you’ll need to connect your Digital Identity to your myGov account — this myGov page explains how.

Next, make sure to double-check the name in your Digital Identity, as you can’t enter a different name for the stat dec or create a stat dec for someone else.

To create your digital stat dec, sign in to myGov's document uploader here using the “Continue with Digital Identity” option, before selecting myGovID as your identity provider.

To log in, you’ll need to use your 10-character password, fingerprint, face, or using a 4-digit code in your myGovAI app.

Once you hit the ‘Get started’ button, you’ll be asked to enter information such as your address and occupation, as well as what you are declaring (written in first person in numbered paragraphs).

After entering the location from which you created the declaration, you’ll be asked to review the declaration and sign it by drawing, typing or uploading a photo of your signature.

You’ll then be asked to check a box to agree that the information you’ve provided is true, before the declaration is created.

The myGov system does not store your declaration, so you’ll need to download the document as a PDF file when prompted.

Make sure to store this file securely, especially if you are using a shared computer.

The declaration PDF contains a QR code, which itself contains an encrypted version of what you declared in the stat dec.

Third parties such as employers can scan this QR code using the QR scanner in the myGov app to verify the declaration’s validity by comparing the details on the QR code page with those in the declaration they received.

The government says myGov “retains only the additional information (the key) that is used to decode the information from its encrypted form into readable text”.

At the time of writing, myGov is the only approved platform for creating a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration.

The passage of legislation to facilitate the expansion of the digital identity scheme to state and territory governments and private sector organisations is expected later in 2024.

If you prefer, you can still make a Commonwealth stat dec using a Justice of the Peace, just as you could before.