Most Australians agree this travel cost is way too high: 'Bit of a rip off'
By Sarah Swain|
It's something you can't do without if you want to leave the country, but most Aussies think the price of a passport is too high.
It'll soon cost almost $400 to get a new one, with the price due to rise on July 1, 2024.
Aussies will have to stump up ?$373.75 จC up almost $50 from the current $325 for the document.
READ MORE: Most powerful passports revealed for 2023?
A total of 83 per cent of Aussies surveyed in an exclusive Nine.com.au survey thought that was too much.?
Then there's the added costs of getting new photos taken and posting off the documents on top.
"Passports go up with the CPI. Bit of a rip off. My first passport cost $30 in 1976 and went up each renewal," one survey respondent wrote.
"Even a child one is costly."
Another said passports should be cheaper for occasional travellers and uncapped for frequent travellers, ?while another argued a passport should only ever be a one-off cost.
"If the government wants us to be Australian citizens, make the passport a one-off payment, then $400 would be okay..." one wrote.
?The Aussie passport is among the world's most expensive.
It's up there with passport for the tiny nation of ?Liechtenstein, between Switzerland and Austria, which costs $407.
READ MORE: How to renew your Australian passport?
Cuba's is more than that at around $400.
Syria's costs $446, but the documents hard do get due to conflict in the region, reports claim.
Lebanon's is a hefty $1180, making it the most expensive.?
The 15 per cent increase in the cost of the Aussie passport was announced in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for 2023-24 by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
READ MORE: ?How much a couple spent on a trip to Europe
He said the price hike will help make the system "modern and fit for purpose".
Aussie passports are now being issued with the works 'His Majesty' after the Coronation of King Charles III.?
However, older ones are still valid without the change.
?Meanwhile, earlier this year, a family were caught out by the rule some countries have which means your passport has to be still valid for six months after you travel.
They went to Greece, which has the rule, alongside Indonesia? Singapore, Vietnam, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu.
