Only took him seven years

Claire Trevett in NZ Herald reports:

Winston Peters says the cost of this country’s passports, which raked in $79 million last year, is a rip-off compared with many other nations’.

The NZ First leader yesterday called for lower passport fees, saying he had received a number of complaints about the cost and the five-year term for which they lasted.

A review of passport fees is expected next year.

In 2005, the fee increased from $71 and the term was reduced from 10 to five years as New Zealand moved to biometric passports.

Remind me again who was Foreign Minister from 2005 to 2008?

Now if Winston had actually done some homework, he would have looked up the DIA Annual Report, where he would find they have a memorandum account for Passports, recording each year the surplus or deficits from passports. In 2010/11 there was a surplus of around $8 million on revenue of $80 million which suggests there is room for maybe a 10% reduction. The actual income and costs of the service is what matters, now whether or not people have complained about the cost.

The previous year the surplus was $3.9m, so it is increasing.