NSW govt pilots NPP for liquor, gambling transactions

The NSW government has started offering citizens the option to pay for some online government services in near real-time using the New Payments Platform (NPP).

The Department of Customer Service began piloting the payment method on the Liquor and Gaming portal last week, alongside existing options like BPAY.

The portal can be used to pay liquor and gaming licence fees, as well as course costs for responsible service of alcohol and responsible conduct of gambling certifications.

The new payment method, which is supported by Australian fintech Azupay, lets customers pay a unique, single-use PayID that has been generated by QR codes at the time of payment.

Customers pay the one-off PayID directly through their online banking account, with merchant information such as the amount and a description automatically included into the PayID.

Azupay said the new Liquor and Gaming portal payment option was the first consumer-to-business payments service to use the NPP’s PayID capabilities.

But the development could be the first step towards NPP-supported payments being accepted across other services offered by one-stop shop Services NSW.

“Customer use will inform how the department will roll-out any future PayID offering to additional agencies/transactions,” a Department of Customer Service spokesperson told iTnews.

Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello also took to Twitter last week to indicate his support for the service being rolled out across other services.

Azupay CEO Jean-Marc Barthe said Azupay was using the NPP to deliver “real-time C2B payments focused on making payments faster, fairer and better for everyone”.

He said using a one-off PayID can help customers to avoid credit card debit, fees and charges, as well end the risk of over or underpayments and the chargebacks that occur as a result.

Other government agencies to leverage the NPP to date include Services Australia, which recently used the platform to deliver disaster payments to Australians affected by the bushfires.