1 Aug 2025

Take a look behind the scenes

We printed over 2.3 million Australian passports last financial year. Most of these were printed in Melbourne.

Blank passport books are produced by Note Printing Australia in Craigieburn. This is the same high-security facility where Australia's banknotes are printed. The printers use special inks, stitching and laminates that make the passport durable and hard to counterfeit.

Two Australian passports making their way along the passport production line. The passports are in the centre of the image and surrounded by complex machinery.
Passports on the production line

From there, the blank passports make their way to our bulk printing site. Here they are run through another set of special printers that add the passport holder's image and personal information.

Dozens of newly printed passports stacked side by side at the end of the production. A hand and a thumb from another hand can be seen about to transfer the new passports away.
Blank passports ready for personalisation

Lastly, each passport is sent by registered post or international courier to their new owner.

Then they adventure all over the world, on one of the 11 million trips Australians make each year.