2024 Budget reveals new fees for Australian passports

I can tolerate increased costs (although I don't claim to like it). It's the lying politicians I can't stand. Today, a politician claimed the passport fee increase is simply a "one off" cost (implying there are no further passport cost increases). That was a bold-faced LIE. Passport fees have only ever gone up, since I received my first in 1979, and they have gone up every time I paid for a new one. Is the good Treasurer now claiming he has magically frozen for all time the cost of a passport? Don't hold your breath, and don't believe any career politician claiming "one off" cost increases.

With the proliferation of e-Visas and reduction in physical entry and exit stamps, the lack of a 66-page option isn't such a concern.  But it would be nice to move those functions to an app to keep track of all the ETAs and travel history in one place.  Of course that would require integration amongst many countries' immigration departments, but they probably have the back-end integration anyway to check passport details for those electronic documents, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Absolute daylight robbery ! 

Prices should have been frozen just like xmas hams. 

I'm still waiting on a partial refund from the government for my last passport which we pretty much weren't able to use for the best part of two years.

Was it  rebuilt / designed" In-house"  or as we have grown to expect "outsourced" at great expense with the never ending loss of "in house" expertise?

… “The R series replaces the P series” … Whatever happened to the Q series? Perhaps, given the passenger processing speed (or lack thereof) at many airports in the South Pacific basin,  a “Queue” series would attract (rightful) ridicule.

Keep in mind that it'll be just $39 a year, which is a pretty small cost component for any international trip.

So going up $66 for a 10y passport. being about $6.60 a year. You get more security in one of the worlds most 'valuable' travel docs (no pun intended LOL), and, enjoy the experience and freedom of travel. If you are not happy with the change, forego once per year (pick one): 2 espressos, a berry muffin or a pot of beer. There done. (if ya got enough to travel o/s, you can afford a $6.60 increase).

They owe us a 20% discount on renewing passports valid while they prevented us from leaving.

Way too many apologists here. Fee increase is unwelcome, on what is already a very high fee by global standards (including other developed countries) is unreasonable, the excuse not very justifiable. Singapore passports use the same polycarbonate card for their passports, the cost is S$70 for 10 years - additional manufacturing costs are neglible if spread over the tens of millions they produce over the lifecycle of this passport series. Don't forget those based overseas get tagged with an overseas processing fee as well, nudging them close to A$600. I would stomach it better if the number of pages were bumped up in return but no, this is just extra cost for no additional reason.

To me it is same old class targetting, in that overseas travellers are better off and can be slugged more. But this actually hurts the lower class more - those who go on overseas holidays once every 5 years are paying an extra $32.50 per trip. All those who are bending over backwards with mental arithmetic to try to justify this as only a $6/year cost increase conveniently disregard the impact on occasional travellers who don't travel every year, and for whom that extra $6/year gives them absolutely nothing in most years.

Next time you meet overseas friends or colleagues, start asking them how much their passports are. It'll surprise you if you're not aware.

So we have money to fund overseas wars but dont have the funds to cover the production of new passports for Australian citizens, not sure who is more silly here, the  pollies spinning this crap or the citizens accepting their spin

Although Mine still has two more years to go till January 2026 of which I would be replacing in 2025 I might get in before July and get it done before the price hike.I will explain to my agency about this in the new year.

Only costs NZ$206 (AU$189) for a NZ 10-year passport using same technology with 49 pages versus our 42.  They have a much smaller population.  All the justification goes out the window.  

Even a UK passport cost GBP75 or AUD 141.70.  So who are the suckers who are being sold a load of rubbish in the Government's efforts to drag more money from Australians' pockets?

I am tired of the "Australia tax", my Serbian passport was $103 for 10 years including the overseas emabssy surcharge. If you say it isn't fair to compare a Serbian passport to an Australian one let's look at a South Korean passport. The Korean is superior to Australian as it provides visa free or on arrival to 192 countries and territories, six more than Australia.  The Korea passport comes in 2 sizes the 26 page which is ₩50,000 (AUD57.40) and a 58 page version at ₩53,000 (AUD60.84).  The Korean passport is highly secure and the last renewal we had to do for a child's passport, they apologised for the delay where it took 5 days instead of 3 days to issue, while the child's Australian passport took 8 weeks at the same time.  The Australian passport provides limited protection for citizens in trouble zones short of advice to get the next commercial flight out or in the unlikely event they evacuate you a bill you unless the flag carrier is trying to regain its reputation. As for the spin it's only $39 per year, 2 things 1.  I don't pay by the year, I pay for 10 years. 2. The Korean passport is only $5.74 per year which is less than the Australian price rise.

It's Insane.I forget how much it was to get my kid passport in 1988 which was the first one in my own name but we are being punished all because of a pandemic that should have never happened(the only thing good to come out from that was extra money from job keeper)and will not get a refund for the two years we were not allowed out of the country.I was supposed to in 2021 be on a New Caledonia cruise but that got cancelled on me so ended up booking in it's place a Cairns trip.

People on this page would stil be sticking up for the government even if they raised it to $1000 fee - you would have people like phil saying its only $100 a year LOL

Compared to the cost of my purposeless car "registration" fee - more than 3 times the cost of a 10 year passport ANNUALLY, just so that I can pay 60c/litre in fuel tax, the passport fee is a relative bargain. There again, my British passport just cost £88.50 ($170).

What nark downvoted me spending my money on cocktails in Fiji ?  They were delicious btw......

basic govt documents - particularly like ID - shouldn't be profit centres. There might be an argument for adding additional taxes on international travel if necessary, but important identification documents shouldn't be more than a nominal cost. Even more so given that we increasingly need to use documents such as these to identify ourselves for KYC or access to services (I'm expanding in scope from just passports to the exorbitant cost of drivers licences e.g. NSW at 390 vs NZ at 32 for 10 years)

Cost for a PR resident return visa is $465, payable every 5 years, and issued within seconds of sending payment. All you get is a PDF in an email.

Physical passport sounds like a bargain by comparison!

My wife and I recently lodged passport renewals at the same time at our local post office.  My new one was in my hands on the 3rd business day afterwards.  My wife’s took 6 weeks.   Rather surprised that I wasn’t asked for Fast Track or even Priority fee.     The 2 new ones were issued on different dates, therefore expiring on different dates whereas the old ones were issued and expired on the same dates.  Just one more thing to keep an eye on.

Apropos a politician’s definition of a “one-off” fee rise, it coincides with the expected ‘lifetime’ of the average politician - until the next election.

David.  The photo heading the article is of the older P version of the front cover, the R version is shown lower down.

I travel 5 months of the year. The justification of this price increase is ludicrous. As for the UV enhanced designs on visa pages- what for? Flashing it about in a nightclub? Unlikely. I’ll be doing that. Who spends time perusing their passport for the fun of it? Passport stamps will soon be a thing of the past. Just another money grab on a gagged public. Get with the program Australia. If other nations with higher populations can provide lower costs and higher processing expediency then so can we. 

So $400 for Aussie passport...on top of £120 to renew my UK Passport and €100 for IRL (including the card - €75 for the Passport, €35 for the Passport Card separately). At least the expiries are staggered 🤦‍♂️ 

I renewed mine last year.. have used it twice to leave Aust.. major problems both in Brisbane and Sydney. No problems in arriving countries eg Singapore/London/Auckland.. then no problems arriving back home.. Perth/Sydney. No explanation.

Oh, well I guess I'll be renouncing my Australian citizenship when my current passport expires in 2032, when due to "a one off rise for extra security features" it's only marginally cheaper for a passport than a harbour view house in Sydney.