Praise for Australian Passport Services

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Media Release

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer

21 June 2001

I am pleased to announce the service provided by Passports Australia has received a glowing report card in an independent survey carried out in all Australian states and territories.

88 per cent of those surveyed rated the passport application process as either "very good" or "good". This result compares very favourably with similar customer satisfaction surveys conducted by the consultant.

My Department places a high priority on the provision of efficient passport services to Australia citizens. Only 2 per cent of those surveyed described the service as less than satisfactory. The Department is already taking remedial action in those areas identified in the survey as needing improvement.

The poll of 1350 Australians who had recently applied for a passport was held in February and March this year.
Passports Australia issues more than one million passports annually, both in Australia and through our missions overseas, and our passport enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the most secure travel documents in the world.

Australia Post, which conducts passport interviews on behalf of DFAT through 1700 postal outlets throughout Australia, also rated very highly with customers as did the service provided by the Australian Passport Information Service call centre, which now handles more than 1.2 million calls a year.

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