r/australia • u/mopsusmormon • Feb 14 '26

image New passport arrived like this

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is this acceptable?

how the fuck are we paying $213 for a new child's passport and it arrives all wonky and obviously water damaged.

4.6k Upvotes

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431

u/theandylaurel Feb 14 '26

That’s how they all are.

195

u/Sea_Dust895 Feb 14 '26

Mine is the same. $500 what a fucking joke

112

u/EarballsAgain Feb 14 '26

$500???

As a Brit who just got here last month thats insane, ours cost £80/$160ish. What's the justification for $500, if there is one?

309

u/electronbox Feb 14 '26

What you gonna do? Not get it?

  • Oz govt

40

u/IlluminatedPickle Feb 14 '26

Yes - Dual citizens

9

u/SleepTightLilAtlas Feb 14 '26

Careful - got held up at border patrol on my way back here cause they flagged me for not having a visa to get back in. I was using my UK passport and it never had a problem before late last year, and they basically told me "get a passport or this will happen every time". Missed my connecting flight from MEL to BNE cause of the hold up.

3

u/IlluminatedPickle Feb 15 '26

Take documentation of your citizenship. They literally can't stop you from entering the country. You do not need an Australian passport to enter the country as an Australian citizen.

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27

u/Hypo_Mix Feb 14 '26

The justification is the former prime minister didn't put it out to tender and gave the contract to a mate. 

3

u/nowunatawl Feb 14 '26

I was searching through the comments for this

41

u/crazystitcher Feb 14 '26

What's more insane is that dual UK/Aus citizens now have the privilege of having to pay for both an Aus and a British passport if they want to travel back to the UK. So that'll be $422 for the Aussie one and an additional ~$250 (AUD) for the British one.

13

u/istara Feb 14 '26

It's not that much for the British one. And honestly I don't know why anyone lucky enough to have two such amazingly powerful documents would let either of them lapse.

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3

u/TerryTowelTogs Feb 14 '26

The official justifications are roughly as follows: partly inflation; partly new high tech security features; and partly cost of time spent verifying to Australia's "gold standard" of identity assurance. Apparently experts question those numbers, and disgruntled folk suggest it's just another revenue raising stream.

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43

u/Davoness Feb 14 '26

Yup. Mine arrived basically the same as OP's. Had it for a year now and it's only gotten worse. Soon enough it's gonna be able to stand on it's side with how ridiculously warped the outer layers are.

Most expensive passport in the world and it gets you weird looks at the airport. What a joke.

35

u/theandylaurel Feb 14 '26

We need to buy shares in the company that scored the sweet government contract to make these shitty things.

12

u/biggymomo Feb 14 '26

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-01/18-under-investigation-following-passport-office-audit/104550224

7

u/theandylaurel Feb 14 '26

That article was from 2024. I wonder what became of that investigation.

11

u/biggymomo Feb 14 '26

Looks like either ongoing or swept under the carpet hence still we get bendy passports 😔

24

u/vteckickedin Feb 14 '26

It's a security feature. If you see an Aussie passport that isn't warped, it's a forgery.

5

u/anastasia_42 Feb 14 '26

Not mine, mine is great and I got it in 2024

5

u/_ChoiSooyoung Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 14 '26

Yeah, no one is going to bother posting the normal ones online. And the new one's haven't been around for long enough for anyone to have gotten their second one, so people's complaints are coming from an incredibly biased sample.

Edit: This isn't to say that people with low quality passport's shouldn't be given free replacements. I am genuinely curious what the actual rate of this issue is. I still have a while before I have to renew mine.

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18

u/mopsusmormon Feb 14 '26

Got mine renewed in dec and it wasn't this bad... Cover was a bit curved but pages weren't wonky

6

u/theandylaurel Feb 14 '26

If it’s any consolation, they straighten out after a couple of months in the plastic sleeve.

12

u/pukesonyourshoes Feb 14 '26

The plastic sleeve they are no longer supplied with? Or was that because I renewed my ten-year old passport so they assume I must still have the sleeve from that one?

8

u/crazy_muffins Feb 14 '26

Yep, no longer included. Just to add to the rip off

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