Australian Passports Act Revision

The new Australian Passports Act 2005 came into force on July 1.

It includes changes designed to complement national security, law enforcement and border protection measures.

An important aim is to combat the growing problem of lost or stolen passports. These provide criminals with an opportunity to conduct their activities using someone else’s name.

The Act requires Australians to report a lost or stolen passport as soon as possible. The passport will be immediately and permanently cancelled and international border control authorities notified. A cancelled passport may not be used for travel. This is illegal and heavy penalties apply.

The Act will encourage Australians to protect their passports at home and abroad. It will do this by introducing an additional fee to replace a lost or stolen passport. The more passports you lose or have stolen, the higher the fee. Where three or more passports have been lost or stolen in five years the validity of the replacement passport will be restricted to five years. In some cases only a document of limited validity will be issued to cover immediate travel needs.

From 1 July 2005 you will also need to use new forms for passport services. In most cases, old forms cannot be used after 31 July 2005. The exception is passport renewal forms already mailed out bearing a use-by date later than 31 July 2005, but even these cannot be used beyond 30 June 2006.

Your current passport will remain valid.

The Act also clarifies existing laws which allow the Minister to refuse or cancel the passport of anyone involved in serious crimes such as child sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, drug-trafficking, people smuggling and terrorism. It also imposes tougher penalties for passport fraud, with jail terms up to 10 years and fines up to $110,000.

Disputes between parents relating to the issue of passports to their children will now be referred directly to the courts.

The new Act takes our world-class passports service into the future. It helps ensure that our passports remain the most valuable way of proving our citizenship and identity.

The Australian Passports Act 2005 and the Australian Passports (Application Fees) Act 2005 are available on the Attorney-General Department's SCALEplus LawResource website. Background on Parliament's recent consideration of the legislation is available on the Parliamentary website then follow the links to Old Bills and then to Australian Passports Bill 2005.

Additional information

• New Passport Act Boosts Security (Media Release)
• New passports laws - protecting Australia and Australians
• Passports website

If you require further information phone 131 232 (from anywhere in Australia) or contact your nearest Australian Embassy or Consulate