Media Release 15 September 2006

Identity staff give consistently good service

A recent survey of passport, citizenship and birth, death, marriage and civil union customer services shows Department of Internal Affairs staff give consistently good service when it comes to issuing passports, citizenship certificates and birth certificates, says the Department of Internal Affairs.

Market research company NRB conducted the survey of 754 recent customers in May and June 2006. The customers surveyed were people who have accessed services through the Identity Services business group of the Department of Internal Affairs.

“Our Contact Centre has been judged as consistently well organised and helpful with 90 per cent of respondents having easy access to the information they needed. We have a pretty good turnaround on passports, which customers can get anxious about, with 76 per cent considering the response times quick,” says Garry Manley, Manager Customer Services, Identity Services, Department of Internal Affairs.

“There are a couple of points you need to remember. If you want fast service, customers can assist by providing correct information and not wait till a couple of days before you travel to check if you’ve got a valid passport. While we can do a rush job it will cost you.

“With citizenship, the forms are straight-forward and our Contact Centre will talk you through them. Your existing documents must be translated into plain English.

“Passport and citizenship documents are very important to people and I’m pleased that there is such confidence in the integrity and security of our travel documents. While some people think that the standard passport costs is expensive at $150, all our fees are set on a cost recovery basis,” says Garry Manley.

He says that in the 2004-05 financial year 411,986 passports were issued, nearly 10,400 citizenship registrations and certificates were issued, 111,242 birth, death and marriage (BDM) registrations received and 241,097 BDM certificates and printouts issued.

ENDS

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