A new call centre with 35 new staff has been set up this week to deal with the backlog in Australian passport applications with another 35 more staff to be added next week, the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said in a statement to Neos Kosmos on Wednesday.

“An additional 250 staff will come on board in the next weeks to process applications,” Mr Watts added.

The assistant minister said the much publicised “delays in passport applications, and the long waits to get in touch with the Australian Passport Office (APO) are unacceptable”.

“It will take some time to get back on track but we will continue to work with DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) to make sure the required resources are delivered. We urge people to plan for at least six weeks while the backlog is being addressed. While most passports are being processed in less than six weeks, some are more complex and take longer.”

He said a passport application could take longer because all the supporting documents required for the process need to be verified.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic around 7,000 to 9,000 passport applications were submitted each day but the current number has swelled to 10,000 to 12,000 daily and this was in part because many of the applications that were not lodged during the pandemic were being currently lodged.

“The problem was predictable and is the result of the previous government dropping the ball and failing to properly plan for the surge in passport applications when the borders re-opened. It should not be Australians who suffer the consequences of these failures,” Mr Watts said.

The Australian Passport Office says on its website: “All passport applications are assessed individually and will be posted as soon as they are completed. This means if you lodged multiple applications together, you may not receive the passports at the same time.

“Child passport applications also have extra security checks and can often take longer to process.”

In his statement Assistant Minister Watts did not mention the fast-track option that has been made available to speed up the passport process, an additional $225 on top of the standard $308 fee for an application.

Panayiotis Kariotoglou of Hellenic Travel Services in Adelaide said the “priority processing” fee was good in that it did speed things up but it showed that “money talks”. He added however that just one client had applied and paid for the priority processing of their passport. His other clients had not experienced great difficulties in getting their passports but he said the delays did not help.

He added that while things were starting to come together in the travel industry, there were delays in obtaining flights for clients because there was shortage of aircraft with business class seats selling before economy seats.

“When you get your passport, the longer you leave it to book a flight, the more likely you will be to face higher airfares than leaving earlier,” he warned.

Jacqui Preketes of Cosmos Tours said that five clients had experienced delays in receiving their passports but that it was not something that affected the majority of her clients.

She told Neos Kosmos that travel so far seemed to be confined to the Visit Family Market which meant most were travelling this year to a single destination to see family.

“There is no necessity to ‘country jump’, people are more cautious and stick to one destination but that may change, next year,” Ms Preketes said.

International Marketing Director for World Aviation Helen Vassos, who is based in Adelaide, advised Neos Kosmos readers to ensure that their passports were always valid and should look to renew their passports six months before they were due to expire.

“If a passport is not renewed within a set time after expiry, then the process will need much more paperwork than a normal renewal. You have to re-submit documents all over again which need to be verified and you may have to get testimonies from people who personally know you.

“Anyone who has an overseas connection must have a valid passport handy as you do not know when you will need to travel. Keep your passport valid at all times,” said Ms Vassos. “It is an investment worth making as it saves you time and money in the long run.”