Major Aussie passport change coming

In good news for those who love to travel, Australians will soon be able to renew their passport online.

Australians will soon be able to renew their passport online as the federal government draws up legislation to enable digital statutory declarations and deeds in all state.

The aim is to streamline passport renewals and electoral roll registration.

Significantly, it will mean an end to those dreaded visits to the post office with bundles of paperwork signed in person by Justices of the Peace for those wanting a new passport.

Instead Aussie will be able to confirm their identity though the Australian Taxation Office’s MyGovID app.

The system will also allow the use of digital e-signatures to countersign electronic documents once it is incorporated into the MyGov website and app.

Currently, each state and territory has different passport renewal systems.

For example, in NSW, Victoria and Queensland deeds and agreements may be executed electronically but in the ACT, South Australia and the Northern Territory individuals may not execute deeds electronically but they may execute agreements electronically.

The aim of the changes is to streamline passport renewals and electoral roll registration. Picture: Seb Haggett/NCA NewsWire

The changes makes financial sense too.

Accenture modelling has found over 4.5m deeds and more than 3.8m statutory declarations are completed each year by small and medium enterprises and consumers; with reforms to the execution of these documents estimated to save over $400m in direct costs and wasted time each year.

The modelling also found it adds about six million and nine million hours respectively to printing, filling out, signing and physically witnessing their execution.

A deregulation task force set up by the federal government says the move will dramatically expand the MyGov portal, which currently only offers 15 services, according to the Australian Financial Review.

In February, a pricey new Aussie passport was released by the Department of Foreign Affairs packed with hi-tech features including a radio antenna and hidden images of native animals printed in invisible ink.

The passports come laden with security measures, pretty pictures and an unexpected tribute to the late Queen – and DFAT insists they are “visually stunning”.

But the new passport, with all its flash features, has come under scrutiny for its cost, with Aussie travellers slugged with record fees for passports in 2023.

At a steep $325, up from $308 last year and $301 in 2021, the passport is among the world’s most expensive.

In comparison, New Zealanders pay about $NZ199 ($A180), the British pay £85 ($140), and a Portuguese passport costs just €65 ($100).

Canadian, Greek and Maltese passports all allow for the same amount of visa-free travel as an Australian one, but cost significantly less for their respective citizens.

– With Chloe Whelan