Only took him seven years
April 9th, 2012 at 9:53 am by David FarrarClaire Trevett in NZ Herald reports:
Winston Peters says the cost of this country’s passports, which raked in $79 million last year, is a rip-off compared with many other nations’.
The NZ First leader yesterday called for lower passport fees, saying he had received a number of complaints about the cost and the five-year term for which they lasted.
A review of passport fees is expected next year.
In 2005, the fee increased from $71 and the term was reduced from 10 to five years as New Zealand moved to biometric passports.
Remind me again who was Foreign Minister from 2005 to 2008?
Now if Winston had actually done some homework, he would have looked up the DIA Annual Report, where he would find they have a memorandum account for Passports, recording each year the surplus or deficits from passports. In 2010/11 there was a surplus of around $8 million on revenue of $80 million which suggests there is room for maybe a 10% reduction. The actual income and costs of the service is what matters, now whether or not people have complained about the cost.
The previous year the surplus was $3.9m, so it is increasing.
April 9th, 2012 at 10:04 am
Ironically, it was the government he was a coalition partner with that helped me decide to become an Australian citizen and I’ve never bothered to renew my NZ passport since
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 10:06 am
How about addressing the issue rather than denigrating Peters?
Are passports a rip off in New Zealand or not?
Clearly they are.
When are Key and the Nats going to fix this?
I’ll tell you- never, because the weak wishy washy racially pandering little cultural Marxist and his acolytes have yet to fix one damn thing that is wrong with this country.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 10:07 am
Yes, but as he points out, other countries E-Passports last twice as long, effectively halving the cost. Putting all that surplus into discounting the children’s ones would also make it easier on families.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 10:23 am
Peters is an ass, but putting that to one side, I find that when travelling through Europe, nearly every border control outfit comments on the quality and security features built into our passports.
Vote:In April last year, the Munich airport immigration official ignored the long line of passengers queueing to get processed, and took my passport, showing everyone else in the office. When he returned, I asked him what was going on, thinking there was a problem. He said “We had heard about these passports. They are the very best there is. Our lives would be easier of the rest of the world would catch up with what you do in NZ. They are the most secure passports in the world.”
Most other countries are moving to a 5-year passport; we just happened to be one of the first.
April 9th, 2012 at 10:41 am
So next year expect Peters to make a big fuss about special tax treatment of the racing industry…. that is unless he suddenly finds he has a helicopter to use for campaigning and a few hundred thousand dollars in his secret trust….
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 10:54 am
The costs are significant especially the sneaky way they made them for 5 years instead of 10. That is an effective doubling of the cost. The E Passports are very good and make processing very fast. I support Peters on this.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 10:56 am
I am with Winnie on this one, why on earth do we only have 5 year passports. Unusual for any politician to look out for consumers, first big Gerry looking at the dopey 6 month WOF and now Winnie.
Vote:Who knows we might even get Amy Adams to look at TV networks locking up content, data caps and the still stupidly expensive cell phone costs.
April 9th, 2012 at 10:57 am
tvb
Can you tell us what you support Peters on – Is it making them only 5 years effectively doubling the price or is it complaining that they are too expensive ?
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Labour reduced validity of passports to 5 years – Canada seems to be only other country to do similarly. 5 year validity is effectively 4 years as you often need 6 months on the end of a passport at the end of your trip.
If you renew a UK passport you can do so up to 9 months before expiry and the new one lasts for 10 years from expiry of old one – a good deal! Renewal can take a week only from application submitted to a NZ Postshop to arrival by courier from UK. This would presume there are no ‘fish-hooks’ or they are not too busy.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:03 am
and I always thought that passports were the responsibility of the Department of Internal Affairs, so what is the relevance of reminding us that Winston was Foreign Minister? Another case of Winston Derangement Syndrome from Farrar!
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:07 am
This article is wrong. It says that for a UK passport, the fee is ‘Adult: $150 for 10 years’. No, I paid $335.37 for mine last month. Where does this person do her research?
http://ukinnewzealand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/passports/how-to-apply/new-zealand#payfees
No wonder the standard of journalism in this country is shit.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Once again, New Zealand First really is the only party of Common Sense. Give New Zealand adults a ten year pass and be done with it.
All this talk of cutting costs in the public sector should be met with cuts in service charges as well. Everything seems to be rising except for our take-home incomes in times of contracting.
I like this idea, and I support vehicle registration/WOF every one or two years as opposed to every six months. Government should ease the burden on “ordinary” New Zealander’s.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:14 am
jonnobanks
‘this person, ‘ is Claire Trevett and believe it or not she holds the post of, ‘ Assistant Political Editor ‘ at the
New Zealand Herald and as such is the living proof that the arse has dropped right out of it at the Herald.
She has been awarded her own opinion piece each Thursday. Watch out for it if you need a laugh.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:14 am
Tautaioleua
I guess you also support blatant dishonesty and corruption.
Not quite my cup of politics, but each to his/her own.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:22 am
jonnobanks
Vote:The article is correct, if you compare like with like. UK passports cost GBP77.50 to renew _in the UK_. That’s just a few cents over $150 at the current mid-market exchange rate. Costs a lot more to renew in NZ.
April 9th, 2012 at 11:31 am
i agree with some of the other comments. Yes Winston is a populist. Ignoring his many faults and focusing on the issue, I’m highly irritated by the very high cost and relatively short life of our new passports. Expecting the world to catch up to our standard – why be a leader in this? Why is the govt generating a surplus from this service? Does it get you thru the queue any faster when most others have dumb passports?
It would be good if we had passport-free entry to Australia.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:48 am
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has no responsibility for passports. They are issued by the DIA under the Minister of Internal Affairs – at the time, Rick Barker, a Labourite.
However, I’m happy with five year passports. Passports are priced based on the cost of producing them and it’s not cheaper to make a five year passport.
And I for one am not happy with the idea of using a ten year old passport – I wouldn’t entrust my financial data to a computer network with ten year old antivirus software, I feel the same way about my identity.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:56 am
You ask why it has taken Winston so long to get upset about the matter.
Vote:I suspect that he has only just found out about it as his old passport has probably just expired and he has to get a new one.
Five years ago he was a minister of the Crown, Minister of Foreign Affairs no less. You can be absolutely sure that he didn’t have to pay for his own passport then. Now he is only a minor opposition MP and probably, shock, horror, has to pay for his own passport and he has just found out what they cost and that they only last for five years.
Welcome to the real world Winston.
April 9th, 2012 at 11:58 am
When I saw your headline, I thought you were writing about the length of time it took Peters to get his ‘lower level’ degree for incoherent dumbarses.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
I remember this well. In effect the move was made to go to make Passports 5 years as people change a lot over 10 years. Then, not long after the biometric passports were then started to be brought in. This would have negated the reduction to 5 years as the biometrics never changes much.
Vote:The combined effect of this was to increase the cost of passports by 400% as follows if you renew passports after 4.5 years:
10 years to 5 years – 200%.
Change to biometrics increased costs from approximately $75 to $150 – 200%.
Also, the new passports are only useful for 4.5 years as you need to have departed withing 4.5 years from issue.
Passports in NZ are expensive due to the 5 year factor.
In my opinion we need to go back to 10 year passports as the Biometric aspect makes this more than valid. Keep the cost the same or decrease, no need to double it to replace lost income.
April 9th, 2012 at 12:27 pm
NZ passports are comparatively expensive, and on top of that they have a useful life of slightly less than 4.5 years.
Maintaining multiple nationalities for my kids highlights the idiosyncratic nature of MFAT. I have dealt with 3 nations’ embassies/consulates in multiple countries and the New Zealand experience is always outstanding. It is like entering a parallel universe where practicality, resourcefulness, and service have inverted meanings.
– Consular services are priced at 10x that of the others I deal with.
Vote:– Consular staff behave as if you are interrupting their business of being important.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
What is more annoying about the move to five year passports is that it is almost impossible to get them renewed while you are living overseas.
So kiwi expats have to absorb the costs of a trip back to NZ every 4.5 years for a passport renewal.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
gump 1:23 pm. It wasn’t a problem for me last year. I did it from Korea.
cheers
David Prosser
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
oddity fan @ 11.31
“it would be good if we had passport free entry into Australia”
We did have once. Mr Helen Clark kicked that into touch however as the price we all had to
pay as in her/his selfish quest for everlasting power in NZ she/he imported hordes of P.I.s in the
hope they would join with all the beneficiaries she created in the hope that there would be a critical
mass that would always vote Labour.
The bitch almost got away with it too.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Here is another issue (off topic i know), that Peters and the Nats, have failed to deal with. Mainly becuase the spineless Nats., and their mates in the unions, with their multi cultural society, fail dismally to realise it is also multi religious. Hence they won’t agree to common sense because Peters would be right and we can’t have that.
http://screencast.com/t/31YBVSmE
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
bereal @ 2.23pm
Rubbish. The requirement to have a passport when entering Australia was brought in in 1981, when Malcolm Fraser was the Liberal PM of Australia and before Helen Clark had even entered the New Zealand Parliament.
Vote:I didn’t think much of Helen Clark as PM but you can’t pin everything on to her.
Next thing we’ll be blaming her for the Black Death in the middle ages.
Good try but definitely no cigar.
April 9th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Renewing a NZ passport while living in the US is a very annoying process unless you happen to live in a city big enough to do specialized passport photos, and having to do it all again only five years later makes it even worse. The identity referee requirement makes no sense for a renewal, but especially when you don’t live in the country anymore. American passports still last 10 years, so I might just get one of those instead next time.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Viking2
There may be nothing wrong with the general concept of a multi cultural society.
But where it fucks up (and the fuck up is as plain as the nose on your face, the evidence is now world wide,
and obvious to all, is where it includes Muslims.)
Pretty well all religions can work out how to live in peace together, but not Muslims.
Muslims are unique in that they alone believe that you must convert to their faith or die.
Vote:They are unique in having that concept as a fundemental tennent of their faith.
April 9th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
“Next thing we’ll be blaming her for the Black Death in the middle ages.”
You mean it wasn’t her? I’m stunned.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
OK alwyn, you may be correct.
And, as you seem to be on to it and better informed than myself,
What then did Herr Helen do that that caused the Aussies to clamp down on Kiwis having reciprical social
security benefits and that precluded Kiwis over 55 applying for citizen ship ?
Now that was Herr Helen for sure.
Also, you sure that bitch didn’t cause the Black Death ?
Vote:i note Samuel Peyps reckoned she caused the great fire of London. The bitch.
April 9th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
“What is more annoying about the move to five year passports is that it is almost impossible to get them renewed while you are living overseas.”
I renewed mine from Japan this year, no problems.
“What then did Herr Helen do that that caused the Aussies to clamp down on Kiwis having reciprical social
security benefits and that precluded Kiwis over 55 applying for citizen ship ?”
I think John Howard just did that off his own bat to save Australia money. Clark didn’t reciprocate – Australians can still get social security benefits here.
Again, not a fan of Clark but can’t blame her for that
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Bereal at 2.57pm
Vote:I think Daigotsu is right on this. He probably was concerned about New Zealanders going over there and being able to claim benefits but it was mostly a case of saving money. No Australian politician ever lost votes by bashing New Zealanders though.
The reason I knew the details of the passport change was that a relative, and Australian citizen, was in New Zealand at the time. He was on a very extended stay and had come without a passport. When he wanted to return he asked his family in Australia to dig it out and send it to him. They couldn’t find it and he had a terrible job persuading the Australian High Commission in Wellington of his nationality and to try and get them to give him a passport. He even had a senior New Zealand politician to identify him. The AHC just didn’t want to know.
For those who thought it was Helen causing the Black Death I’m sorry to spoil your illusions. Actually it was an earlier Labour politician. It was Arnold Nordmeyer and that is why they called it the “Black Budget” of 1958
April 9th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
BTW, Farrar’s cost analysis is faulty because its based around charges that arise through the employ of a legion of overpaid work for the dole parasites whose typical NZ public service low level of productivity drive the costs far higher than they should be.
If other countries can do it for less, there is no reason NZ can’t.
Singapore for example produces a 5 year biometric passport for $80 (Singapore currency).
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Apologies – it appears that it is now possible to get an adult passport renewed through any NZ embassy or consulate.
Before they changed the rules, the only locations that could renew NZ passports were London, Sydney, and Wellington.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
alwyn
now that i remember.
Herr Helen was given the option by AU to restrict the virtually unlimited P I immigration into NZ ( and therefore as it was
at the time , into AUS.) or face the consequences.
Mr Clark chose not to do so for the reasons that i extollead @ 2.23
( socialist dogma 101… if you fuck your own country thats OK, as long as you retain power.)
All Herr Helen had to do to maintain the status quo with Aus was to apply some control to the
P I immigration.
She gambled, we lost. Au acted.
I mean, you lost, i lost, your kids lost, and in the end even fuken Helen lost. (power in NZ)
But of course Helen didn’t realy give a shit.
She never gave a shit for New Zealand.
socilast dogma 102 , Have an exit plan. Take care of number one.
Remember the note pinned on the notice board at their home in Cromwell St Akl.
“Peter owes Helen 85 cents, Helen bought 2 pints of milk.”
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Somebody explain to me the usefulness of 5 yeats over ten years. If ‘biometric’ is so good then it applies for more than five years ???
Vote:Somebody tell me the ‘passport office’ is surperbly efficient, and not run on a cost plus basis. Hopefully.
Also. W Peters is a complete waste of time. But DPF also wastes our time in party sniping. Arguing the issue would be more interesting.
April 9th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I’m sure Jim Bolger was paying money to Australia to cover some of the cost of Social Benefits of New Zealanders living in Australia. The amount paid was never anywhere near the actual cost to Australia however.
Shortly after Helen came to power, Australia ended the right New Zealanders had to become automatic Australian citizens. Now they have to get in line like everyone else and qualify by the points system. Australia is laughing. They get all New Zealand’s productive citizens for no cost to them. All the parasites remain in New Zealand.
Doesn’t stop the exodus ever year of large numbers of New Zealand in one direction.
The only real solution is for New Zealand to join the Australian federation as a Territory.
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
at least hes prepared to examine his own history……
Not that he probably meant to but i know of no other politician who is prepared to criticize his own actions…..
Vote:April 9th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
“Somebody explain to me the usefulness of 5 yeats over ten years.”
5 years doubles the income for DIA’s passport account. Seems pretty useful from a ‘making our numbers look good while we keep our Facebook/Linkedin profiles up to date’ perspective.
Vote:April 10th, 2012 at 4:49 am
“Apologies – it appears that it is now possible to get an adult passport renewed through any NZ embassy or consulate.
Before they changed the rules, the only locations that could renew NZ passports were London, Sydney, and Wellington.”
Also ChCh and Auckland although ChCh maybe not anymore post-earthquake.
When I applied for a replacement (Japan) I sent my application to Wellington. Got it back in three weeks, which is roughly one week postage either way plus one week processing time. Seems pretty reasonable. Others’ experiences might differ though.
Vote:April 10th, 2012 at 4:52 am
“Shortly after Helen came to power, Australia ended the right New Zealanders had to become automatic Australian citizens. ”
NZers never had a right to become automatic Australian citzens.
What they -did- have was some of the same rights as Australian citizens, such as the ability to get the dole etc.
They don’t have that anymore, or they do but there is a two year residence period.
What NZers continue to enjoy is the ability to enter and live and work in Oz for an indefinite period as long as they don’t commit any crime. Other countries have to apply for a visa in order to work in Oz.
So NZers in Oz, even after Howard reduced the dole entitlement, still have rights that approach those of Australian citizens although are not the same thing.
But I stress again never were kiwis considered “automatic Australian citizens”. For example an NZer who commited a crime would be deported.
Vote: