Part Two
Performance reporting
Outcome 2
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The protection and welfare of Australians abroad through timely and responsive consular and passport services in specific locations overseas.
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Programme 2.1: Consular and passport services
Objective
Support Australians in specific locations overseas through effective consular and passport services, accurate and timely travel advice, practical contingency planning and rapid crisis response.
Deliverables and key performance indicators
Tables 13 and 14 summarise the results for programme 2.1 against the deliverables and key performance indicators set out in Austrade’s 2013–14 Portfolio Budget Statements.
| Key performance indicator | Achieved |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| In specific locations overseas: | ||
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Austrade continued to receive positive feedback from Australian citizens who used Austrade’s consular services. More than 808 citizens received consular support from Austrade during 2013–14(a)—see page 104. |
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In 2013–14, Austrade consulates processed without error 97.4 per cent of passport applications received. Austrade also met the 10-day turnaround time standard for passport applications in 99.6 per cent of applications—see page 104. |
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Annual updates and testing of consular contingency plans were conducted across all Austrade-managed consulates to ensure they were ready to respond in an effective and timely manner to crises. Austrade facilitated 16 test exercises of consular contingency plans—see page 104. |
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In 2013–14, 11,571 passport applications were received (11,258 in 2012–13)—see page 104. |
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In 2013–14, 14,342 notarial acts were performed (11,639 in 2012–13)—see page 104. |
(a) In 2013–14, Austrade realigned its reporting of consular assistance to show the number of instances where significant assistance has been provided to Australian citizens, rather than displaying the number of general enquiries. Significant assistance included assistance provided to citizens arrested or imprisoned overseas or who required medical assistance or hospitalisation, and support provided to families of citizens who have died overseas. This methodology is consistent with the approach taken by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Austrade-managed consulates
Austrade continued to provide support throughout the year to Australian citizens and permanent residents travelling and working overseas by delivering prompt, effective and courteous consular assistance and accurate and timely passport services. Austrade also provided access to current travel advice, practical contingency planning, and rapid crisis response in locations overseas where it has consular management responsibilities.
At 30 June 2014, Austrade operated consulates for the Australian Government in 16 overseas locations (Table 15), representing
17 per cent of the total number of Australian diplomatic and consular points of service. These consulates provide a range of services to Australian travellers and Australian citizens living overseas, including notarial services; assistance with welfare issues, missing persons, whereabouts enquires, arrest or detention matters and medical emergencies; support for victims of serious crime; processing new passport applications and replacing lost or stolen passports; and detecting attempted document or identity fraud.
Table 15: Austrade-managed consulates, at 30 June 2014
| Auckland | Prague(a) |
| Bogota | San Francisco |
| Dubai | Sao Paulo |
| Frankfurt | Sapporo |
| Fukuoka | Toronto |
| Istanbul | Ulaanbaatar |
| Milan | Vancouver(a) |
| Osaka | Vladivostok(a) |
(a) These consulates are managed by an Honorary Consul.
Back to topAustrade-managed consulates continued to build on collaborative working relationships with other government and non-government agencies to facilitate effective crisis-related assistance. Consulates refined their contingency planning for major events and improved their preparedness for potential high-risk scenarios that may affect the safety and welfare of Australians overseas.
During the year, Austrade facilitated 16 test exercises of consular contingency plans and developed event-specific plans for events such as the America’s Cup in San Francisco in September 2013; the World Games and the Track Cycling World Championships in Cali, Colombia, in July 2013 and February 2014 respectively; the National Rugby League Nines event in Auckland in February 2014; and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in mid-2014.
Austrade worked closely with Australian embassies and high commissions and with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade consular operations and passport operations branches in Canberra throughout the year, especially when dealing with complex cases.
Austrade assists with overseas voting in the 2013 federal election
Austrade-managed consulates provide voting facilities for federal and some state and territory elections. The Australian Electoral Commission expressed its thanks to Austrade for assistance with overseas voting for the 2013 federal election. During the election, 73,976 votes were lodged at overseas locations, including 6,013 lodged across 14 of the 16 Austrade-managed consulates. For the first time in a federal election, Australians had access to assistance from consular officials in Bogota and Ulaanbaatar—a total of 122 Australians voted at these two locations. This followed the establishment of consulates-general in those cities by Austrade in 2012.
Consular and passport services
In 2013–14, Austrade provided high-quality and responsive consular support to 808 Australians in difficulty overseas. This included assistance to 176 people arrested or imprisoned overseas, 94 people requiring medical assistance or hospitalisation, and support to the families of 64 people who died overseas. The number of notarial acts performed increased by 23 per cent from 11,639 in 2012–13 to 14,342 in 2013–14, which continues the upward trend of recent years.
The number of passport applications received increased by 2.7 per cent from 11,258 in 2012–13 to 11,571 in 2013–14. Austrade provided responsive passport services to Australians with urgent travel needs, issuing 844 emergency travel documents overseas within 48 hours of application in 2013–14.
Accuracy rates for processing passport applications were high—97.4 per cent were processed without error. Austrade continued to meet the 10-day turnaround time on passport applications, with 99.6 per cent of applications processed within the required timeframe.
Ghada Zaroubi | Passport and Consular Support Officer, Dubai
Ghada is part of Austrade’s consular and passport team in Dubai, helping Australian citizens and permanent residents travelling or working in the United Arab Emirates.
Ghada started work with the Australian Government almost two decades ago at the Australian Embassy in Beirut. During the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah conflict, Ghada worked tirelessly to produce emergency passports for Australians being evacuated from Lebanon. Along with the rest of the Beirut team, she was awarded the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary’s Achievement Citation for the outstanding result achieved.
The following year, Ghada went on to work as a passport and consular officer at the Australian Consulate-General in Dubai.
In 2009, Ghada and the Dubai consular team were awarded a Global Austrade Staff Award for their commitment and professionalism in the delivery of consular services.
Ghada said her team has a constant and busy workload. ‘One of most notable consular cases I worked on in Dubai received considerable media interest in Australia. The case continued for five years, and was very intense’, she noted. Ghada’s dedication during this time earned her a Secretary’s Achievement Medallion.