Australian Passports are a RIP OFF!!!  An Adult passport is $254, around double the actual costs of making it, and double the price of a passport in nearly every other country. 

Last financial year, the Australian Passport Office received $455.6 million of revenue from the sale of passports[1], well beyond the costs of the passport office of $230.8 million.   Evidently, this was still not enough, with the price of an adult passport now set to rise by another $20 in January,[2] to $274.  

So why does this blue 32-page pocketbook cost $274? 

The common answer given is that Australia has high labour costs – so everything costs more.  That makes it difficult to explain passport prices overseas: the UK ($117), Netherlands ($143), Sweden ($51), Canada ($157) [3,4,5].  All countries with very high wages and secure, biometric passports like Australia’s, yet have passport fees that are around half of ours. 

 Does a passport really cost $274 to make? 

Based on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) 2015-16 annual report, 1.96 million passports were issued for the year, while the Passport Services Departmental Expenses were $230 million[6].  This implies that total cost per passport produced was $118 (down from $133 in 2012-13).  Despite this, passport prices have continued to climb higher every year, delivering a massive surplus to DFAT. 

 Can our outrageous passport costs be justified by the speedy delivery timeframes?

Currently, the Australian Passport Office aims to have passports delivered within 15 business days. 
Until  2014-15, this KPI was 10 business days.  Going back further to 2005-6, the average delivery time was 4.1 days (passports were only $172 at the time)[7].    

A passport is a primary form of ID for most Australians.  It is no more a luxury item than a birth certificate or a Medicare card.  The price of a Passport should be as low as possible, to cover the cost of production. Definitely, they should be well below the 2016 price ($254), which delivered a $233 million windfall to the passport office.

It is time that the Australian public stops getting ripped off for our passports, and for DFAT  to deliver on its objective of providing “an efficient and responsive passport service”.    
This petition demands:

1.        An immediate 50% reduction in the price of all passports, (Adult $130, Child $64), with all future pricing to be based on a cost recovery basis. 

2.       A re-instatement of the ‘10 business day KPI’ for passport issue.

3.       That the Australian Passport Office issue an annual statement detailing the activities have been implemented to reduce their expenses.

[1] Department of Foreign Affairs 2015-16 Annual report p. 299
[2] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/budget-2016/budget-2016-epassports-to-make-leaving-country-more-costly/news-story/58da0ffe94b1717b21243c1820a0a8db
[3] https://www.government.nl/topics/identification-documents/contents/passports-identity-cards-and-dutch-nationality-certificates/applying-for-a-dutch-passport-abroad
[4] https://polisen.se/Service/Pass-och-id-kort/
[5] http://www.canadianpassportrenewal.org/canadian-passport-renewal-fees/
[6] Department of Foreign Affairs 2015-16 Annual Report p. 220
[7] http://www.budget.gov.au/2006-07/bp2/html/bp2_revenue-04.htm