New Lowy Institute brief proposes consular levy

A new policy brief released today by the Lowy Institute warns that Australians’ increasing appetite for international travel is placing unsustainable pressure on Australia’s consular services.

In ‘Consular Conundrum: The rising demands and diminishing means for assisting Australians overseas’, Research Fellow Alex Oliver highlights how Australians are travelling more than ever (8 million trips overseas last year - double the number a decade ago) with increasing expectations of the consular support they should receive if they get into trouble.  

The profile of the typical traveller is changing, with rising numbers of young and older Australians heading overseas. Risky activities, extreme sports, adventure travel and unusual destinations are becoming more popular, increasing the difficulty of providing travellers with consular assistance.

Adding to these pressures, public expectations of what governments should do for Australians whilst travelling are rising, fuelled by high-profile consular cases and over-hyped media attention.

‘Successive governments have become entangled in a vicious cycle in which they succumb to media pressure and stoke public expectations by over-reaching in high-profile consular cases. This cycle must be broken’, said Oliver.

‘The growing incidence of Australians overseas demanding that government intervene in their cases no matter how trivial, foolhardy or avoidable their predicament, would seem at odds with a national culture that prides itself on resilience and resourcefulness’.

Oliver argues that the government needs to manage the expectations of Australians travelling overseas and provide more funding for consular services, including by imposing a consular levy on the cost of a passport or airline ticket.

‘A small consular levy will provide much-needed additional funds to meet Australians’ growing need for consular services’.

‘This will relieve pressure on DFAT, allowing it to balance its consular work with its other priorities - which are just as critical to Australia’s national interests as helping distressed Australians overseas’, said Oliver.

The policy brief can be downloaded http://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/consular-conundrum-rising-demands-and-diminishing-means-assisting-australians-overseas