Regional leaders call for local passport offices amid Sydney’s hours-long queues

Residents of the regions would rather take their chances with hours of travel to Sydney and hours longer in snaking queues than chance a postal passport delivery.

Regional leaders are calling for passport offices to be established in their towns to serve locals, who currently have to drive hours to the Sydney CBD, only to stand all day in snaking queues.

There is currently only one passport office in the entire state, in Sydney, where country folk have been coming in droves to pick up passports and have them renewed.

Mayors of regional hubs such as Orange and Dubbo, and the federal Opposition have all said it was an “essential service”.

“We would like to have it in Orange because it’s not just people in the city that need passports,” Orange Mayor Jason Hamling said.

Delays in passport app­lications from the Sydney Passport Office have been going for weeks, despite many applying before the ­recommended timeframes.

People queuing outside Sydney Passport Office at Henry Deane Plaza, on Monday. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Mayor Hamling said it left many residents outside of the metropolitan area with no option, but to reach into their own pockets to travel into the city with “no certainty” they will receive their passports.

“I’ve heard of people concerned about travel plans even if they pay the extra money (to fast-track),” he said.

Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson said: “Any regional office makes sense. It gets people thinking about regional locations.”

Tamworth Mayor Russell Webb said having a passport office in a regional centre was a “great idea”.

“We go to the post office, but it takes absolutely forever,” he said.

Claudia Harris from ­Orange travelled up to Sydney and, on Monday, lay on a picnic blanket with a book as she waited in line.

21-year-old Claudia Harris travelled from Orange to queue for hours for a passport. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“I’m going into my sixth hour here. I think I’m 106th in line,” Ms Harris said.

“I’ve travelled up for this because with the regional post it can take even longer.”

“I don’t want it to be disastrous, I want to get it moving along,” she said.

Kenny James from Newcastle said he was told on the phone that he should come to the Sydney office.

Those in the regions would rather take their chances with hours of travel and longer still in the queues than chance a postal passport delivery. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“Lucky I have a friend here so I can stay with them, but it (costs you) deeply out of pocket … fuel is $2.20.”

Senior regional Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan backed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) considering options to specifically improve passport access in regional and rural areas.

“DFAT could also look at having satellite (passport) offices in major regional towns, working in conjunction with Australia Post Offices, ideas like that should be explored to help address that issue,” he said.

Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Tim Watts acknowledged the processing delays and said that work was under way to help people outside major cities collect their passports faster.

“Where customers from regional Australia have an ­urgent need to travel the ­Australian Passport Office is working to facilitate collection of passports en route to an international airport,” Mr Watts said.