I’ve heard that it’s around 420 AUD for an 10 year adult passport, like why? (Apparently, it’s the third most expensive globally) To put it into perspective: most European nations will price it for either less or within 50-100 EUR making it affordable to travel. It used to be cheaper but for some reason there is a price hike to the point it’s a rip off.
Australia doesn’t have a large population and pretty much everything has to be imported at increased cost or made on shore for increased cost.
There is a lack of efficiency built into the ‘shell be right’ attitude, which unfortunately means that those in positions of power to try and reduce costs don’t do so. The lack of healthy competition and high wages are contributing to this. Government then feels less pressure to bring costs in line also.
Most other countries pay their staff less and have a more efficient system in place. Generally though, the higher price leads to decent, if not world leading, service levels.
Generally, it’s known as the Australia tax. The bright side is not leads to less people living in poverty and a high standard of living. The bad side is every is more expensive so after the essentials, everything costs significantly more. The essentials also cost more, but it’s less egregious.