Author: Renu Roberts

This Determination modernises and simplifies the provisions from the previous 2005 Determination by reordering and renumbering the provisions in the 2005 Determination to be consistent the Australian Passports Act. It also embeds the schedules of the 2005 Determination in the body of the new Determination for ease of reference. The provisions of the determination largely the same.

The Determination covers:

• the issue of travel-related documents;
• special circumstances for the issue of a passport to a child;
• competent authorities for making a passport refusal/cancellation request for matters relating to law enforcement, international law enforcement or potential for harmful conduct;
• offences for the purpose of making a passport refusal/cancellation request;
• validity periods for different travel documents;
• concurrent, diplomatic and official passports;
• when travel documents are not valid;
• disclosure of personal information for limited purposes;
• exceptions for a name that may appear on a person’s travel document;
• waivers and refunds of fees; and
• delegations and reviewability of decisions.

The Determination provides for the following key amendments:

• removing the ability to extend convention travel documents and certificates of identity and instead providing that they may be replaced overseas in exceptional circumstances;
• refining and clarifying the special circumstances where a passport may be issued to a child without full parental consent or an Australian court order;
• adding offences for the purpose of refusing or cancelling a passport on law enforcement and security grounds;
• reducing passport validity for persons who have lost or had stolen two or more passports in a five year period;
• issuing 16 and 17 year olds ten-year validity passports, instead of five-year validity passports; and
• clarifying that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the Department) may validate any document provided as evidence of identity or citizenship.

The Determination also repeals Schedule 1 of the Australian Passports Determination 2005.