Expectations are high for Aussie travellers seeking help from the government when abroad

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) came to the aid of 14,574 Australians overseas last year, but budget cuts and unrealistic expectations are challenging the department’s continued service, a report has revealed.

According to the department’s annual report, DFAT has some 1,500 consular cases running at any one time in the context “of a widening gap between the expectations and reality of what government can and can't do for Australians abroad”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

To offset the soaring costs of helping those who get into strife overseas, travellers could be forced to pay a travel levy for foreign trips and higher fees for passports if recommendations from a joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade report are taken up by the government.

The report found Australia's diplomats are “chronically underfunded” as the burden of consular support for the thousands of Australians in trouble overseas grows.

To offset the soaring costs of helping those who get into strife overseas, travellers could be forced to pay a travel levy for foreign trips and higher fees for passports under a new plan by the government.

The report suggests a tiered levy that will take into account those people who take out travel insurance and those who are unable to or fail to obtain travel insurance

In 2011-12, officials had helped 14,574 Australian travellers who ran into trouble overseas, including giving 365 travellers $218,470 in emergency loans.

On top of this, 14,500 Australians were helped when in difficulty, such as those who were arrested overseas, and more than 200,000 Australians needed some form of minor consular help, such as for lost passports.