A cabinet paper released by Department of Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain, hints that the public will not be consulted on his proposed 6 to 9 month increase to NZ passport validity.
The originally confidential paper released on the departments website, mainly explores fee reductions, after the department embarrassingly collected 27 Million dollars in surplus since 5-year passports were introduced in 2005.
In this paper Tremain asked for an exemption from a statutory 28 day public notification, for passport fee reductions, in order to avoid a rush on passport applications, after the reduced fees took effect, preferring instead to notify the public in the NZ Gazette, one day before the fee reductions took place.
It looks as though he will do the same with passport validity.
"The NZ Government has been playing these games since 2005, when the public were notified in the NZ Gazette, one day before fees doubled, and 5 year passports took effect. We ask the Hon. Chris Tremain to do the honourable thing, and consult with the NZ public on passport validity, as the Canadian Government has done." said Kyle Lockwood, spokesperson for nzten.com a group advocating for the return of 10-year Passports, enjoyed by most OECD nations.
ENDS.
The full, previously confidential cabinet paper can be downloaded below:
passport-fees-cabinet-paper2012.pdf |