The plan is designed to pave the way for initiatives such as the ability to register a birth, make an ACC claim or order a replacement driver's licence online.
The State Services Commission's E-Government Unit last month invited submissions from the public on aspects of the proposals.
It asked people whether they would prefer a separate user name and password for each government agency or a single all-of-government authentication regime.
Speaking a day after the deadline for public submissions, Mr Mallard said he believed a centralised system was preferable to having "200 crown agencies come up with their own ways of doing things".
Mr Mallard says the Government was "a bit anxious" about a decision last year to mandate the use of GoProcure - a centralised system which core government departments will have to use to buy goods and services over the Net.
That was viewed as a precedent which redefined the long-standing concept of chief executive accountability in the public service.
Mr Mallard indicates he has been emboldened by the response to the GoProcure mandate.
"We thought there might be quite a lot of resistance, but a whole lot of people we expected might be resistant said it was a good idea. In authentication, we are likely to come up with something similar."
E-Government Unit spokeswoman Andrea Gray says the unit received 76 submissions from the public.
She says it is too soon to break down what proportion favoured a centralised authentication regime, but that there was "nothing in the submissions that indicated a major change in thinking might be required".
Ms Gray says most of the submissions showed a high level of understanding of the issues involved and some contained detailed feedback on issues such as privacy.
The views expressed in the submissions could be summarised as "get on with it, do it right", she says.
Quelle: stuff
