Providing passport, consular and protocol services

The department provided Australians with a secure, efficient and responsive passport service, which met the standards outlined in the Australian Passport Office (APO) client service charter.

The department concluded the Passport Redevelopment Program (PRP), which has delivered enhanced application, assessment and analytics capabilities for the passport process and significant improvements in passport production.

Passport demand increased by 5.5 per cent in 2016–17. APO issued a record 2,070,038 passports, including 8,075 emergency travel documents, and we provided support for Australians who reported 43,756 lost or stolen passports during the year. Turnaround time for processing ordinary passports fell 38 per cent in 2016–17 and we achieved the priority processing standard of two days in 98.3 per cent of cases.

Our campaign to encourage passport applicants to start their applications online resulted in 63 per cent of applicants completing online forms in June 2017, significantly reducing error rates and processing times. The APO also conducted a public campaign promoting the 10-year validity of new passports for 16 and 17 year-old children.

We concluded the second phase of the Data Warehouse project to enable development of advanced analytics and improved business intelligence functionality for better evidence-based decision-making. This project assists with fraud detection and management through large-scale data manipulation, advanced statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques.

We drew on international best practice to enhance our passport security and interoperability and led the way in inter-agency data sharing initiatives. We worked closely with the Attorney-General’s Department to develop a capacity to interact with the National Facial Biometrics Matching Capability, including the Facial Verification Service. Security enhancements are a priority for the next generation of Australian passports, due in 2020.

In response to competent authority requests, the Minister for Foreign Affairs cancelled 71 passports, refused six and suspended four on national security or
law enforcement grounds.

The department provided high-quality consular services through our global network, managing on any given day 1,500–1,600 cases involving Australians in difficulty overseas—and a total of almost 12,500 such cases over the financial year. The department’s Consular Emergency Centre remained an important point of contact for Australians at home and abroad, taking more than 66,000 calls on a 24/7 basis (up from 60,000 calls in 2015–16). We also delivered more than 217,000 notarial services to the public in Australia and abroad.

We put in place crisis contingency arrangements for major events, including the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and Paralympics. Our ‘pop-up’ post in Rio de Janeiro ensured the availability of consular services for the thousands of Australians attending the event.

We implemented government directions and parliamentary recommendations in relation to the consular program. Further to the Minister for Foreign Affairs’ May 2016 announcement, we established the Australian Government Global Watch Office to strengthen Australia’s capacity to monitor and respond to emerging international events on a 24/7 basis. In accordance with the 2016–17 Budget announcement, we developed policy to cease consular assistance to permanent residents, except during crises, and limit consular assistance to dual nationals in their country of other nationality. And following the May 2016 parliamentary inquiry on advocacy for the abolition of the death penalty, the department developed comprehensive death penalty guidelines and continued to advocate actively for individual cases.

We continued to expand our consular network. As at 30 June 2017 we offered consular assistance from 187 locations in 134 countries, through a mix of DFAT-managed embassies, high commissions, consulates and offices, Austrade-managed posts, honorary consuls and our consular partnership with Canada. We simplified reappointment processes for honorary consuls and are looking at further options to expand this network.

We also worked to improve our delivery of consular services. Our internal quality assurance program identified areas of improvement for individual case management to ensure a consistently high-quality of service across the global network. We devised a solution to enable the registration of Australian deaths abroad, minimising the burden for families. We also conducted whole-of-government lessons-learned exercises after significant international incidents. We continued to engage industry and the community through the Consular Consultative Group.

The department further professionalised the consular service, creating an internal mentoring network to support new consular officers, enhancing the Consular Information System to improve the efficiency of case management, and strengthening debt recovery procedures for recipients of travellers’ emergency loans. We updated the notarial services guidelines and developed an e-learning package for honorary consuls and notarial staff to improve service delivery.

We continued to support whole-of-government and other agency action. We coordinated responses to several international crisis incidents, including an attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016, and the terrorist attacks in Nice, Berlin and London.

Fortunately, there were fewer international crises requiring a consular response in 2016–17 and, thus, significantly fewer crisis-related whereabouts tracing cases (1,851, compared with 5,003 in 2015–16).

To enhance our leadership of whole-of-government responses to kidnapping cases, we established the Kidnap Response Task Force.

We collaborated with the Australian Electoral Commission to improve overseas voting procedures and worked with the Australian Federal Police to manage responses to reports of missing Australians overseas.

The department stepped up cooperation with Vietnam, China, the UAE, India, Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Lebanon to improve consular services and case outcomes, including child abduction responses. In partnership with the Consular Colloque (United Kingdom, United States, Canada and New Zealand), we shared best practice policy settings and crisis preparedness information while expanding cooperation to extend our global consular reach.

The department provided a quality protocol service for 108 diplomatic missions and 369 consulates. We assisted with the opening of the embassies of Côte d’Ivoire and Costa Rica and the presentation of credentials by 24 heads of mission. We concluded new bilateral dependant employment arrangements with Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates, making a total of 48 such arrangements.

We enhanced engagement with the diplomatic and consular corps through more direct outreach, including briefings on matters of policy and administrative interest and targeted information initiatives.

We supported the Minister for Foreign Affairs in hosting 73 heads of mission in Cairns in May 2017. This event showcased environmental protection on the Great Barrier Reef, economic diversity in Far North Queensland, regional academic institutions and innovative businesses in tropical health, food production and environmental protection. The participants spoke very positively: ‘The thoughtful programme allowed us to see opportunities in Far North Queensland, understand upfront the challenges of climate change confronting the Great Barrier Reef, and witness the thought leadership in tropical sciences being done at James Cook University.’ [His Excellency Kwok Fook Seng, High Commissioner for the Republic of Singapore.]

We actively encouraged the corps to comply with Australian laws and regulations. The introduction of a demerit points system saw a reduction in traffic infringements in Canberra and the more rigorous procedures we implemented relating to the employment of domestic workers by diplomats strengthened protections for this potentially vulnerable cohort.

The department monitors the number and accuracy of passports issued and the time taken to process applications.

Adult renewals accounted for 37 per cent of all passport applications in 2016–17, compared to 34 per cent in 2015–16. We received an average of 8,225 applications each working day, nearly 500 a day more than last year. Since 2011–12, passport applications have increased by nearly 20 per cent. Growth is forecast to continue at an average of over five per cent per year in the near term.

Turn-around time for ordinary passport applications dropped significantly in 2016–17 to an average of 4.1 days (from 6.7 days in 2015–16). More than 98 per cent of priority passport applications met the service standard of two days.

The successful introduction of the new bulk passport printing facility in Melbourne, which has printed over one million passports in its first 10 months of operation, along with efficiency gains made in other processing areas, allowed the APO to manage growth demand with similar staffing levels to the same period last year.

The Australian Passport Information Service (APIS) provided a telephone helpline to clients and arranged appointments with passport offices in Australia. APIS handled 1,734,038 telephone and email enquiries. In line with previous years, a small number of passports issued (0.16 per cent) were reported as faulty. Of these, 30 per cent involved physical problems with the booklet, while inaccurate data or photos accounted for 70 per cent.

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As passport fraud is an enabler of other serious crime, the department’s role in fraud prevention, detection and prosecution is critical to the Government’s efforts in this area. The department assessed 439 allegations of passport fraud, resulting in 98 formal investigations and 10 referrals for prosecution. The remaining 331 allegations involved active passport applications, of which 162 were refused for further processing. These refusal decisions were mainly the result of forged parental consents in child passport applications.

The department maintained a 24/7 duty officer system and ensured Smartraveller travel advice accurately reflected developments on the ground. We issued 823 updates to travel advisories for 174 destinations as well as travel bulletins on a range of subjects including the Zika virus and terrorism threats. For example, following the May 2017 terrorist attack in Manchester, the UK travel advice was updated three times in 24 hours to provide the latest information and advice. On average we received 20,000 visitors per day to the Smartraveller website, 1.3 million subscriptions to travel advisories, 142,000 Smartraveller Facebook followers, nearly 20,000 Twitter followers and close to 30,000 downloads of the Smartraveller smartphone app.

The department continued to improve the Smartraveller service. We comprehensively edited 44 travel advisories as part of an ongoing editorial project to ensure travel advisories are not only timely and accurate but also consistent, clear and simple to read.

We pursued innovative initiatives to improve public access to consular resources. We launched the Smartygrants program to fund community projects that encourage smarter, safer overseas travel by Australians, particularly vulnerable and at-risk travellers. We published the second annual Consular State of Play report in November 2016 to provide data on the number and types of consular situations managed by the department. This helped to clarify our consular role and activities to the media and wider public. We also engaged with parliamentarians and the media to explain the limits to consular assistance.

The department delivered high-quality services to the diplomatic and consular corps—including visas, privileges and immunities, mission and personnel security, taxation and property—that met our international legal obligations under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations and enabled foreign accredited staff in Australia to perform their functions efficiently.

The corps continually provided good feedback on the department’s protocol services. With many complex and diverse questions relating to immunities and protections, missions expressed satisfaction with the department’s responsive and pragmatic approach. Officials charged with establishing new embassies or consular posts welcomed our support and guidance in post opening procedures.

We delivered high-quality advice and timely services relating to visas, accreditation and other protocol services. Our arrangements for the induction of new resident and non-resident heads of mission attracted positive comment. ’With the recent anniversary of the opening of the Embassy of Estonia in Canberra by Estonia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, I wanted to take a moment to extend my appreciation for the support which has been provided to us. As a new mission in Canberra, we have relied on DFAT for a range of advice and support to get established. The department’s Protocol Branch were professional, welcoming and attentive, and provided a timely, practical solution to every question.’ [His Excellency Andres Unga, Ambassador of Estonia.]

Heads of mission welcomed our active engagement and the opportunities presented through constructive interaction on protocol matters to enhance bilateral cooperation and reciprocity.