All tiers of government have come together for the first Digital Council meeting.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told the meeting of commonwealth, state and territory data ministers that cooperation on digital issues is needed to help consumers.

“We've got to establish a new culture about how we approach these technologies and the opportunities,” he said

“If we don't embrace them, it's a bit like deciding not to use electricity or any other technological advance.”

Federal Digital Transformation Minister Michael Keenan gave one example of how cooperation will help Australian society, by merging records on drugs given to pregnant women with records on birth defects.

“We've got to find a way to combine that data and learn something from it to give advice to pregnant women,” he said.

“Governments keep enormous amounts of information and that can mean nothing or it could mean something very significant if we can utilise that information properly.”

Experts say the different jurisdictions could work together on initiatives like digital driver’s licences, which a number of states are currently in the process of developing.

The Federal Government is expected to offer its soon-to-be piloted digital identity platform for use by state and territory governments, but will also offer the option to “have their own versions [of the digital identity system] accredited for use with federal agencies”.

Ministers from all states and territories except Victoria and Tasmania attended the meeting.