Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

That is a good question and I should say that obviously the situation is evolving and the government is considering how we respond to identified risks such as the one you have outlined. Regrettably, this occurs at a time when we already have a lot of pressure in the passport system as a consequence of the previous government's failure to plan for the massive spike in passport applications that occurred because people didn't renew whilst the borders were closed. I think I've been up-front with the public, and Assistant Minister Watts has been up-front with the public, about how we are trying to resolve that issue. But that is an issue that will take time, and we are still dealing with unprecedented demand, and this comes at a time when the system is already under pressure. (Time expired)