Passport office failing to deliver about 20% of priority passports on time despite charging $225 extra

New figures reveal that of the 241,712 priority applications received since June, 42,448 did not meet the two-business day deadline for completion.

The newly released figures also reveal about 80% of the 1.2m routine passports issued since June were not processed within the standard 10-business day deadline, with delays linked to a surge in demand after the reopening of the international border.

The number of Australians paying hundreds of dollars to guarantee faster processing has doubled from pre-pandemic levels, leading to a big jump in government revenue.

Applicants can choose to pay $225 to ensure their passport was ready for collection or mailing within two business days of all documents being received.

The Australian government collected $54.5m in revenue from these priority processing fees in the first 11 months of this year, Dfat has disclosed.

Priority processing fee applications now represent 20% of the total passport caseload, compared with 8% to 9% in 2019, according to Dfat.

The projected total revenue for passport applications in the 2022-23 financial year is $824m, which includes $150m in priority processing fees.

Jackson said one passport arrived a month ago but the other one was completed only on Monday - five days before the family was set to depart Australia.

When Labor took office in May, it accused the former Coalition government of having failed to properly plan for the reopening of the international border, and said it would increase staffing assigned to the passport office.

Frustrated passport applicants have been contacting the offices of ministers and local MPs, who in turn have referred the matters back to the Australian passport office (APO) seeking clarity.

Since a change to the system on 19 October, there were a further 630 calls from the MP hotline.

The department said its April 2022 forecast predicted monthly demand would peak at more than 300,000 applications in October 2022, but changes in traveller behaviour and industry offerings resulted in that peak coming sooner than expected.