Australian passports: Graziela Ferrari shares stress, DFAT respond

A Tasmanian mum travelling home to see family for the first time in four years has shared the extraordinary hoops she had to jump through to get the vital document amid lengthy delays.

“I’ll be there on Thursday and I won’t leave until I have my passport.”
That is how Youngtown social worker Graziela Ferrari broke her 11 week deadlock with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Passport Office, after she was earlier told she wouldn’t be able to collect her vital document until the day before her trip home to Brazil.

“They expect you to drop everything to go and collect the passport, what if you can’t do that (the day before you leave)?” Ms Ferrari said.

Ms Ferrari’s experience comes as the department reveals 15,000 Australians are applying for new and reissued passports every business day, double what were applying pre-Covid – between 7000 and 9000 per day.

A representative said the APO had more than doubled its staffing levels since July – from 730 to nearly 1800 – in response to the backlog.

Ms Ferrari initially applied to renew her passport on June 25, thinking that would leave her ample time to receive it before her flight with her daughter on September 24.

The APO advises travellers to “allow a minimum of six weeks to get a new passport”, but that “if you’re planning travel in the next six months, it’s best to apply for a passport now”.

Youngtown social worker Graziela Ferrari with daughter Alanis Colville. Picture: Supplied

Ms Ferrari said she began feeling anxious after 10 weeks had elapsed and called the office.

She claimed they told her the office had only received the paperwork from the post office on July 25 – a month after she applied – and that her divorced status was causing additional delays.

After a series of phone calls back and forward, Ms Ferrari claimed she was told she would only be able to collect the document on Friday – the day before she was due to leave.

“I told them I cannot wait. I told them I would be there Thursday (September 15) to collect it. I said, ‘I’ll be there (the Hobart and office) and I won’t leave until I have my passport’,” she said.

She was forced to take a day off work and undertake the five-hour return journey to secure the document.

The experience has left a bad taste in her mouth.

“I was very anxious, especially that they don’t communicate to tell you what’s going on,” she said.

“It’s really stressful not knowing if you can travel or not.

“If I had applied last minute I would understand that.

“But it makes you feel anxious, angry, you feel like they aren’t listening.”

The department described Australians’ demand for passports as “unprecedented”.

Andrew Brown, director of Launceston Travel & Cruise Centre. Picture: Launceston Travel & Cruise Centre

“During the two-year Covid travel ban, around 1.8m Australians did not renew their passport, despite customers being provided with individual messages encouraging passport renewal,” a representative said.

“We currently have around six weeks of work in the processing queue. While every effort is being made to reduce this backlog, it can’t be addressed overnight.

“While the majority of applications are being processed within six weeks, there will always be some that take longer.

“Applicants who need to travel urgently, and have been waiting for longer than six weeks, should call the APO on 131 232.”

The office said passports can be priority issued in two business days upon payment of a $225 fee.

Launceston Travel & Cruise Centre director Andrew Brown told the Mercury he has been advising all clients to make the priority payment for peace of mind, even if they aren’t travelling for several months.

He did say, however, the passport crisis seemed to have abated somewhat since its peak earlier this year.

“People are being more proactive and getting on the front-foot straight away,” he said.

Originally published as Australian passports: Graziela Ferrari shares stress, DFAT respond