Better Passport Protection
- June 3rd, 2009
- Posted by EUEditor
Australian travellers are to be issued with yet a new kind of passport from now on, described by the government as continuing the country’s reputation as a world leader in providing secure travel documentation.
The Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, said (28.5.09) the N Series passport incorporated state-of-the-art technology to help curb identity fraud and possible misuse.
It was designed and manufactured by Note Printing Australia, applying the processes developed for Australia’s bank notes.
It features images of Australia printed throughout the document making every visa page unique; and very difficult to falsify through page substitution or tampering.
The passport continues to use a laminate developed exclusively for Australian travel documents by the 3M Company; and that has several new tamper-resistant technologies to assist international border control authorities to distinguish the document as genuine.
The N Series incorporates active authentication technology on a radio frequency identification chip, developed in cooperation with Sharp Corporation.
The technology for that enables officials to determine that the data is being read from the genuine original chip and not a copy or clone — adding another level of security for the traveller’s personal data.
The N Series passport will be on carbon neutral paper.
Reference:
Stephen Smith, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, “New Series Australian Passport”. 28.5.09. www.foreignminister.gov.au, (3.6.09).