Dyson Should Explain Delay to 10-Year Passport Report

19 MAY 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Delays in a Select Committee report on a petition calling for the reintroduction of ten year passports are likely to result in any law change not occurring until after the election. In February, the Government Administration Select Committee considered the petition of Kyle Lockwood calling for the reintroduction of ten year passports. At the time, the Select Committee indicated that it would report back to Parliament within a fortnight. The report is now nearly three months overdue.

The Taxpayers’ Union is backing calls for the reintroduction of ten year passports and released a briefing paper in February that shows how New Zealand is out of step with the rest of the world in terms of cost and length of validity.

“For whatever reason the Select Committee is dragging its heels on the issue,” saysTaxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams. “We were told at the Select Committee that it would take only a few weeks to report back to Parliament so that Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne could consider the matter and any resulting legislation could be looked at by this Parliament.”
“The Committee Chair, Ruth Dyson, should front up and explain what is taking so long. Why is the Committee dragging its heels on this issue? The Labour Party are apparently supportive of the reintroduction of ten year passports, but seem complicit to allow the issue to be shelved until after the election.”

“We say that’s not good enough. How is it fair that New Zealanders still get the lousiest deal in the world for the basic privilege of a passport? New Zealanders are still being overcharged, the government is still sitting on a surplus of passport fees, and now the process to amend the law is being delayed."
'Sky High', the Taxpayers’ Union briefing paper on passport affordability, is available for download here.
ENDS

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