The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia: The Australian Passport Office: Helping shape the future of biometrics

What’s in a name?  Nothing, compared to the value of a face, or other biometric indicator, when it comes to securing your identity.

More than a century ago, the Australian Government recognised the value of biometric information well before ‘biometrics’ was even a term.

The first photos appeared in an Australian passport in 1915, when passports became compulsory as a temporary measure during World War I for all departing males of military age.

Back then, a passport included some personal details and a simple black and white photo.  This image served as an important security feature, allowing authorities to confirm a person’s identity.

As technology evolved, so did the Australian passport.  Since then, there have been a further 20 iterations of Australia’s passport over the years, but the inclusion of an image to recognise someone’s facial biometrics has always been there.

In 2005, the Australian Passport Office (APO), which is part of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), launched its first biometric passport—one of the first countries to do so—by embedding an electronic chip containing biometric information.  This small silicon chip helps authenticate the identity of the passport holder in over 140 countries.

Few Australians appreciate how advanced and secure their passports really are.

The APO’s pioneering work on face biometrics is a big part of that story.  Since the introduction of the biometric passport, facial recognition checks have been a standard part of the APO’s processing.

Every time a customer applies for a passport, be it first time applicant or a renewal, APO staff check the photo against the entire database of facial images to ensure the person does not exist in any other identity.  Currently holding over 29 million passport photos, this database is one of Australia’s largest facial biometric banks.

These checks are still amongst the world’s most thorough.  APO staff are highly trained to pick up discrepancies as part of the facial recognition check.  In fact, DFAT was one of the first organisations anywhere to test the aptitude of staff performing facial comparison tasks.

Of course, it’s not possible for APO staff alone to compare an image against a database of that magnitude.  So that’s where the use of cutting-edge algorithms comes in.

Face comparison algorithms can spot anomalies humans would miss.  The programs the APO uses to run these algorithms are industry-leading and are upgraded regularly to introduce further performance improvements to our systems.

Investing in facial recognition systems also delivers wider benefits for passport customers—using their face to confirm their identity through the Government’s face-matching service.  For example, the APO facilitated access to its passport face-matching service so Services Australia could fast-track financial assistance to those affected by last year’s bushfires.

The APO’s facial recognition system is also central to the Government’s digital transformation agenda by supporting customers to create secure, trusted digital identity credentials.

Digital identities for the digital world are the future.

Customers no longer want paper-based products.  The service environment is electronic, self-serve and almost instantaneous (think online shopping).  Environmental events like COVID-19, where people are unable to meet in person, also push us closer to a digital future.

So how does a passport – a physical document with important biometric data and over 100 security features woven into the seams – meet these digital expectations?  It evolves.

What this will look like will be interesting to watch, but two things are certain:

• Biometrics will be essential to both securing your identity and the integrity of any future Australian passport, and
• Any future success will require the continued work and collaboration of the APO and the Biometrics Institute.

APO is proud to be a founding member of the Biometrics Institute.  We have benefitted immensely from the Institute’s insights, and the close working relationships it has helped us forge with key agencies in the biometrics field.

We want to acknowledge the Biometrics Institute’s tremendous contributions over the past 20 years and congratulate it on reaching this important anniversary.  The APO looks forward to working closely with you for the next 20 years!

Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
Shashi Samprathi
Head of the Borders User Group, Biometrics Institute                                    
DFAT were a Founding Member in Australia

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