House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Alexander Downer MP)

Outline and financial impact

Outline

The purpose of these Bills is to introduce a modern legal structure to:

•

maintain access by Australian citizens to passports of the highest integrity, which establish the bearer's identity and citizenship;

•

ensure the passports system complements national security, border protection, law enforcement measures and international law enforcement co-operation; and

•

ensure consistency with family law, privacy and administrative law and principles.

The provisions of the Passports Act 1938 (1938 Act) make it unnecessarily difficult to achieve these key objectives.

The new elements of Australian passports law and policy, which will be introduced with the Australian Passports Bill, are:

•

a clear statement of the entitlement of an Australian to a passport;

•

penalties for passport fraud increased to 10 years' imprisonment, or $110,000;

•

a framework for the use of technology;

•

the mechanism for refusal/cancellation of a passport on law enforcement grounds or if a person is likely to engage in harmful conduct will be improved;

•

measures to minimise the problems caused by lost and stolen passports;

•

the exceptions to the requirement for either both parents' consent or a court order for a child to travel internationally will make clear that disputes between parents should be dealt with by the courts; and

•

privacy-related measures, including a transparent mechanism for obtaining information to verify identity and citizenship and to regulate the disclosure of passport information for other limited purposes.

The new passports legislation would repeal Australian passports provisions in the 1938 Act.

The Australian Passports (Application Fees) Bill would establish a simpler structure to deal with changes in the costs and validity of passports and other travel-related documents. A simpler structure will enable the Government to respond rapidly to demands by Australian travellers for different types of travel-related documents and to increase fees and shorten validity for those who lose multiple passports.

Over many years, uncertainty concerning the technical legal question of whether passport fees were a tax or cost recovery has clouded the ability of the Government to implement sound financial policies relating to cost structures. The separate Australian Passports (Application Fees) Act would obviate this problem.

Financial impact statement

The department of Foreign Affairs and Trade operates the passport system on a full cost recovery basis. Passage of this legislation will not result directly in any additional cost to applicants or to the Commonwealth. Ordinarily, the details of any changes to application fees would be settled as part of the annual Budget process. Possible increases in revenue from higher penalties are unpredictable.