Australians will need to manage multiple check-in apps on their phones if they move between states once borders open, and consent to their medical records being shared every 12 months.

Senior public servants have provided an update on how vaccination certificates will be used in coming months and also addressed concerns that paper versions could be forged.

While one nationwide app would make it much easier for interstate travellers, state and territory governments want to register vaccine certificates alongside the existing QR check-in information they manage.

The system will be trialled on 500 people in New South Wales from next week to make sure it is ready for broader use when locked-down states open to the rest of the country, which is expected before the end of the year.

So how will it work?

Your vaccination certificate is currently stored online by Medicare. Millions of people have already downloaded it on their phones or stored it in Google or Apple wallets.

But as interstate travel becomes more common, Medicare will give you an additional option of sharing your vaccine certificate with different state and territory authorities, depending on where you are travelling.

This would be done through the Medicare Express Plus app. Once you consent to sharing your medical information, you'll be told to download the latest version of the relevant state and territory app.

After that, IT specialists at the government agency Services Australia will encrypt your medical information and send it to the relevant state or territory officials. No third party will be involved to help keep the data safe.

From that point, when you check into venues using a QR code in another state or territory, your vaccinate certificate will also be recorded. This gives authorities or businesses scope to enforce mandatory vaccination rules if they see fit.

Consent will expire after 12 months, and if you're travelling to multiple states you may need to provide it on multiple occasions and download multiple apps.

Public servants told a Senate hearing that if you forgot to provide consent before travelling, it would be possible to align your apps in a few minutes.

But if you're relying on paper certificates — as not everyone has a smartphone — then you may need to get in touch with Services Australia weeks before you travel interstate.

In a parliamentary hearing, Labor senator Kimberly Kitching questioned whether having multiple smartphone apps would unnecessarily complicate or deter tourism.

“We all want tourism to start again. Let’s say I was going to go everywhere in Australia, I would currently need eight apps?” she said.

Senator Kitching also said it appeared the federal government was outsourcing responsibility for vaccine certificates to the states.

However, Peter Alexander, the chief executive of the Digital Transformation Agency that is assisting the rollout, said state and territory governments wanted to lead as they are all enforcing different rules. 

"The federal government hasn't been outsourcing responsibility to the states and territories, we have been giving them what they want and supporting them," Mr Alexander said.

Could vaccine certificates be forged?

South Australian Senator Rex Patrick claims to have forged a paper vaccine certificate in 10 minutes, although it was not used in an official capacity so it is unclear whether it would have been accepted by authorities.

Security experts have also been able to create sophisticated digital forgeries of the certificate using free software.

Services Australia chief executive officer, Rebecca Skinner, said paper immunisation statements had been used for decades, including to claim family tax benefits and childcare subsidies.

"A piece of paper with the requisite government watermarks has been part of the fabric of service delivery and proof of something for many, many years, including for proof that gives financial support or benefits to someone," Ms Skinner said.

Ms Skinner said that vaccinations and the certificate were free and there was little incentive for forgery, and confirmed that no changes to the process would be made despite Senator Patrick's concerns. 

"We are not changing our approach to providing the paper-based service that we have provided for a number of years," Ms Skinner said.

"We have no reason to have a need to change the approach that citizens are well used to, which is to receive paper documentation from us or have access to it digitally."

But Senator Patrick said vaccination certificates were now required to access basic freedoms and accused officials of not taking the issue seriously.

"Because vaccination certifications are being connected to health measures, forgeries undermine those health measures," Senator Patrick said.

"Surely you can't suggest that in circumstances where there are easily available technologies to make it more difficult to forge that you're not doing anything. I find that extraordinary.

"This devalues the certificate itself."

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