Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PASSPORTS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 1) 2002 NO. 118

STATUTORY RULES 2002 No. 118

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Foreign Affairs

Passports Act 1938

Passports Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1)

Section 12 of the Passports Act 1938 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, including for prescribing the fees to be charged in respect of the issue, renewal or endorsement of passports (paragraph 12(1)(c)).

Regulation 13 of the Passports Regulations 1939 provides that fees are payable in respect of passports and travel documents as specified in Schedule 2 of the Passports Regulations.

The purpose of the Regulations is to to enable Australian senior citizens aged at least 75 years of age to elect to have passport which is valid for 5 years, and to specify revised fees to be charged for the issue of travel documents and in respect of the issue and renewal of passports.

The cost of the issue of an Australian passport increases from $136 to $144, the cost of the issue of a passport to a minor increases from $68 to $72, the cost of the issue of a Certificate of Identity increases from $82 to $86, and the cost of the issue of an Australian Seniors' passport is $72. A priority processing fee of $60 is also introduced.

In order to respond to the special needs of Australian senior citizens, a five-year passport for Australians aged 75 and over will be offered at half the standard price from 1 July 2002.

In 2002-2003, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will undertake research and development into the introduction of a facial biometric identifier for the Australian passport. This research will strengthen the current identity verification process and significantly improve the detection of fraudulent passport applications.

In order to fund these initiatives, and the increased cost of producing and issuing passports, the passport fee increases from $136 to $144. This increase represents $3 for the annual CPI adjustment and $5 to cover the cost of the biometric research and loss of revenue associated with the introduction of a senior citizen's passport.

The urgent issue of passports is impacting significantly on the capacity to provide passport services. In 2000-2001, around 140,000 urgent passports were issued and it is expected that this trend to continue. The current arrangements allow clients largely unrestricted access to a fast-track service without regard to cost or the ultimate impact on our capacity to provide normal services to remaining passport applicants.

The priority passport fee of $60 is additional to the normal passport processing fee and is being introduced to address these problems. The fee is expected to help manage demand, address resourcing issues and discourage frivolous requests for priority services. The payment would guarantee issue of a passport to an eligible applicant within 48 hours of lodgement of the application. The revenue from this proposal is projected to be $23.8 million over three years and will cover the cost of providing the new service.

A number of other countries such as New Zealand, Canada, UK and the US passport agencies already charge fees for the urgent processing of passport applications.