Kerre Woodham: Passport cut close to bullying

Kerre Woodham finds it hard to believe that the passport technology we're using now will be outdated in 5 years. Cartoon / Guy Body

I couldn't agree more with an opinion piece in this week's New Zealand Herald, bemoaning the Government cutting the validity of passports from 10 years to five.

My passport is due to be renewed shortly and I'm incensed that I'm not going to be able to reapply for one that will last me 10 years.

Time telescopes as you get older.

Five years will come around in no time and it will be a challenge to fill the pages of a passport in five years, not 10.

As the author also pointed out, the five-year term is not a five-year term either. It's four years, six months, given that so many countries won't let you through their borders if you have less than six months to run on your expensive travel document.

Sure we have to keep up our technological edge and the biometric passports speed up the arrivals procedure.

But I find it hard to believe that the technology we're using now will be outdated in five years.

It won't be - so why can't we have a 10-year term like most other countries?

We're a nation of travellers and this unnecessary and niggardly expense is a major annoyance.

The Nats would do well to remember that their revocation of lifetime drivers' licences annoyed a lot of potential supporters.

Five-year passports could be seen as the same sort of bureaucratic bullying and revenue gathering.