
Creative Group Nominated for SITE 2025 Crystal Award for Most Creative Solution Deployed to Overcome Adversity
Flexmerce.com Launches Cutting-Edge Solution to Automate Back Market and Refurbed Invoicing
Commercial Printer Market Valued at USD 10.5B in 2023, Expected to Reach USD 13.5B by 2034 | TMR StudyAt $398, the standard adult Australian passport has been called 'the most expensive' in the world. And that cost is said to be getting higher in the new year. With that hefty price tag comes an expectation of a quality document, but that's not what some Aussies are experiencing. Several have taken to social media to complain the passports are "flimsy" and subject to curling. READ MORE: The best family experiences happening in Melbourne this summer One woman's video on TikTok has been viewed close to 150,000 times with hundreds of comments after she labelled it "awful". "Our passports that we bought in May 2023 live in this passport wallet. We take excellent care of them because they are our ticket to travelling the world - and this is what they look like when they come out," said the traveller. READ MORE: Surprise city crowned Australia's 'cultural capital' - and all the fascinating things to do there "This is a disgrace. It's just unacceptable. They bend, they twist. The only safe place to keep them is between two gigantic encyclopedias. This passport here has even got stitching starting to come up. That's just awful. "Our other passports, the ones that had expired, they're in perfect condition." She went on to blame a "design fault", adding, "I doubt we're gonna get 10 years out of these passports." She's not the only one complaining. 9Travel's Editor Kristine Tarbert also recently noticed this after a passport arrived for a new family member. "We received our baby's first passport last month and within a day of it sitting on my desk it had already started to curl around the edges. I had to put it into a passport case straight away," says Kristine. "Mine by comparison is over eight years old and has been all over the world and feels more sturdy. Though the actual ID page on the new ones is much more solid and substantial." On Reddit, a traveller posted a photo of their curled up passport, calling the quality "horrendous". "I got this passport a month or 2 ago for my current trip, and everytime its not in a sleeve for more than an hour, this happens. No, Its never gotten wet, or any weather damage. This is just how it is. I know Malaysia's humidity is bad but no way its this bad." And Natalie Vellozzi from Sydney also took to TikTok to complain her new passport "looks like it was literally printed at Officeworks. I've had it for one day and it is already warping, it's already bending". The 'R' series Australian passport was first issued in September 2022 and "combines visual elements and advanced technologies to make it one of the world's most secure and beautiful travel documents," according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website . But in July this year, journalist Michael Gebicki wrote in Sydney Morning Herald's Traveller , that the cost was a "rip-off". "Are we to believe that an American or British passport, which cost A$200 ($221) less than our own, or the Singapore passport, which costs just S$80 ($104), are less secure than our own?" In the FAQs on the Australian Passport Office website there is a question about curling and whether people should be concerned. "You may notice a slight curling on the cover of your R Series passport. This occasionally occurs due to changes in humidity. "It's not a manufacturing defect and doesn't affect the validity of your passport. Keeping your passport tightly secured will help prevent this curling. For example, you can use an envelope or passport holder to store and protect your passport between use." But Australia is not alone with the curling issue, New Zealand's also does the same, but for half the price. I personally have had two NZ passports in a row affected. Last month, Julia Taylor, acting general manager operations at the Department of Internal Affairs, confirmed to Stuff Travel that some passports are affected by "cover curling", "particularly if they are moved from a room with normal humidity levels to a sunny or dry place. The cotton in the cover shrinks causing the cover to curl". The good news is the curving "in no way affects the validity of the passport, is not a defect and can occur in any passport made from this particular material. A large number of other countries use this same material for passports. "The critical element of the passport is the data page which is made with robust polycarbonate, and would need to be materially damaged to affect the validity of the passport." Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment. This story was originally published by Stuff and has been reproduced here with permission.