Skift Take
You know that your citizens are causing trouble abroad when you start asking everyone to pony up a little extra to help finance consular advice. Perhaps Australia should consider imposing the levy only on destinations where visitors get most out of hand.
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Australians going overseas should pay a new “travel levy” to meet the rising cost of fellow travellers getting into trouble, according to a parliamentary committee.
A report backed by Labor, the Coalition and the Greens said the huge increase in Australians needing help in foreign lands was eating into the cost of running formal diplomatic operations.
It called for a combination of increased passport fees and an indexed travel levy to pay for consular services.