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Through the RegistryConnect program, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will deliver reliable, secure, trusted and efficient registry services to support the economy for the benefit of all Australians. ASIC plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity and availability of the business registers, as well as facilitating new company and business name registrations. The registers are fundamental to the functioning of Australia’s economy – supporting over 298.2 million searches and 3.3 million lodgements annually.

ASIC is modernising the technology and enhancing user experience of the registers, while safeguarding continuity of essential registry services for the Australian community.

RegistryConnect is a multi-year program that will continue to stabilise and secure the registers to significantly reduce technology and cyber security risks and deliver new functionality. This includes the continued upgrade of licensing and professional register systems in consultation with stakeholders, to improve decision-making processes and simplify access to services, applications and reporting obligations for regulated businesses. It will also improve user experience when accessing information across key channels such as the ASIC website.

Supporting Australia’s economy through improved business registration services

RegistryConnect will:

• deliver new Companies Register search functionality
• deliver new company registration and maintenance services
• link director identification (director ID) numbers to the Companies Register, a key priority to prevent the use of false or fraudulent identities and improve traceability of directors’ relationships with companies over time
• strengthen user authentication
• improve the quality and integrity of registry data
• address cyber security and technology risks
• address fraud and scam risks associated with the misuse of registry information
• improve application, registration, maintenance and search services for ASIC’s professional registers.

Specifically, in 2026 RegistryConnect will:

• launch a new API channel for machine-machine interactions
• deliver new Companies Register search functionality and a range of enabling services for ASIC’s digital channels
• migrate the registers of banned and disqualified persons and organisations to new solutions
• launch new application, registration maintenance and search services for financial advisors and authorised representatives.

As criminal activity becomes more sophisticated, transnational and digitally enabled, the volume and complexity of digital evidence contained in briefs of evidence referred to the Commonwealth Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) continues to grow. Offenders increasingly exploit emerging technologies in innovative, coordinated and sophisticated ways, creating new challenges for prosecutors and investigators alike in managing and analysing digital evidence.

Meeting the challenge of managing and analysing digital evidence

To meet this challenge, the CDPP launched the Evidence Management Modernisation Program (EMMP) in 2023. This major transformation initiative aims to establish a sustainable CDPP capability to efficiently and effectively manage and analyse large volumes of digital evidence. In particular, the digital/ICT component of the EMMP has equipped the CDPP with a scalable, secure and integrated evidence management platform designed specifically for prosecution workflows.

The CDPP undertook a procurement process to source the platform that underpins the in-house evidence management capability. This was recognised by independent assurers as good example of Commonwealth digital sourcing. In particular, the process effectively managed complex probity issues in a small market and delivered an outcome that other Commonwealth agencies can now leverage to meet similar needs.

The successful vendor, an Australian small to medium enterprise (SME), delivered the platform over 2 years. The new system has improved efficiency, accuracy and accessibility in managing digital evidence, supporting more effective prosecution outcomes.

Overall, strong leadership, governance and disciplined project management underpinned the successful delivery. This project demonstrates the CDPP’s commitment to modernising its digital capability and supporting Australia’s criminal justice system into the future.

This project provides benefits to the Australian including:

• more efficient Commonwealth prosecutions that support timely criminal justice outcomes
• better long-term value for taxpayers delivered by an in-house evidence management capability
• support for Australian industry through partnership with an Australian SME
• reusable procurement process for other agencies with similar needs.

The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) NextGen is a pivotal tool for Australian law enforcement, providing a comprehensive fingerprint and palmprint matching capability.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) delivered the NAFIS NextGen project – an upgraded, fully supported system, with protected government cloud capability, advanced latent fingerprint processing and integration with partner agency systems.

Improved fingerprint and palmprint matching supports criminal investigations

The only national system of its kind in Australia, NAFIS NextGen is crucial for identifying individuals based on their prints. The system enables rapid upload of prints from crime scenes, supporting fast identification of suspects by matching crime scene evidence to persons of interest and identifying suspects in minutes.

The ACIC is also providing state-of-the-art interactive training, establishing a new international standard for fingerprint software training.

Searched more than 12,000 times every day, NAFIS NextGen has delivered early results such as:

• linking a recidivist drug offender, with a significant history of drug manufacturing, to 2 major unsolved crimes
• resolving an unsolved homicide
• identifying new cold case leads
• linking over 100 new suspects to previously unidentified fingerprints for a variety of offences.

Delivering the next generation of fingerprint identification

The ACIC project team partnered with international technology vendor IDEMIA and experienced NAFIS users from every partner agency nationwide. This allowed subject matter experts to play a pivotal role in how the system processes would work and strengthened relationships across jurisdictions. These relationships will continue, with cross-jurisdictional assistance to manage work and investigations.

Overall benefits of the system include:

• reduced operational costs for ACIC and partner agencies
• increased speed and efficiency of fingerprint and palmprint matching – helping to solve serious and everyday offences as well as cold cases
• more flexible information sharing among partner agencies including international partners
• improved security
• cutting-edge training, establishing a new international standard for fingerprint software training
• cross fingerprint matching between NAFIS and fingerprints captured at the border in the Department of Home Affairs’ Enterprise Biometric Identification Services.

NAFIS NextGen highlights the integration of technology in modern policing, providing a critical system for law enforcement agencies across Australia to help solve crime and keep the community safe.