An Aussie has lashed out after forking out $450 for a new passport, only for it to be delivered in an envelope.
Tilly McConnell claimed it was clear the Australian Passport Office was ‘cutting costs on all corners’, as she even noted the quality of the passport was questionable.
‘I want to know who works at the Australian Passport Office and posts things out,’ she said in a TikTok video.
‘I recently got my passport and, are you kidding me. It came in this.’
Ms McConnell showed how her expensive passport arrived in a simple paper envelope with no other protection.
‘Do passports not get water damage now? I don’t understand. It came in a normal envelope,’ she said.
‘And this is the quality of it. What the f***. My old passport is in better condition than this. Are you kidding me? Nope, I am p***ed off.
‘My last one came in bubble wrap and everything. They’re cutting costs on all corners.’
Tilly McConnell was stunned to find how her $450 passport arrived in the mail
Social media users said the lack of protection for such an important document was ‘ridiculous’ given it can’t be used if it gets damaged.
‘They left mine in my letterbox. My $450 legal identity left in my letterbox,’ one said.
Another said she was not as lucky as Ms McConnell and told of her recent passport experience.
‘Mine came exactly the same three weeks ago; however, mine had water damage from all the rain we had,’ she said.
‘I took it back to the post office and they said I had to pay and order a new one. I sent an inquiry to the Australian Passport Office last week; so far, no response.’
Many other frustrated Aussies remembered the days when a passport came in a protective plastic sleeve.
They also said the government couldn’t justify cost-cutting around passport delivery when the Australian document was the most expensive in the world.
‘That’s how they deliver the most expensive passport in the world?’ one said.
Natalie Vellozzi questioned the quality of the new Australian passports
Australian passports are the most expensive in the world and deliver the government hundreds of millions in profits
‘Your passport is the most important identification you can have, and they send it like that,’ another said.
Sydney woman Natalie Vellozzi, 28, posted a TikTok in December, where she compared her old and new passports and accused the government of skimping on quality of the new R series.
Since its release, questions have been raised about the expensive document’s quality, and Ms Vellozzi told Daily Mail the degradation was noticeable.
‘Maybe the material they’re using is different,’ she said.
‘But I just noticed as soon as I got it, it was already curling and bending over.
‘When they made it and bound it together, they’re not putting enough weight on it to flatten it properly.’
Daily Mail contacted Ms McConnell and the Australian Passport Office for comment.
