In my final few weeks in Australia I’ve been blogging about different aspects of our activities here. People often ask me what our consular work involves. It’s a big part of what we do, involving about one sixth of our staff – some 16 people – plus Honorary Consuls in five cities where we don’t have offices. That’s hardly surprising when we have 1.2 million Brits living here and another 630,000 visiting every year. Even though only a tiny percentage are likely to need significant assistance, with such large numbers that still means quite a few people.
Last year we provided direct consular assistance to 786 people. 430 of these were classed as serious cases including: deaths (72), hospitalisations (51), arrests (145), child custody and missing persons. We’re also actively helping some 150 British prisoners in Australian gaols. Of course in a developed country like Australia, with strong public institutions and civil emergency organisations, people don’t always need to turn to their local British Consul for support, even when natural disasters like floods, bush fires, or cyclones occur. But our experienced consular staff can play a very valuable role if tragedy strikes when you’re far from home on the other side of the world. The loss of a loved one can be even more traumatic when, in addition to the normal grieving process, you’re having to navigate the complexities of repatriating a deceased person back to the UK. I’ve always admired my consular colleagues for the way they combine compassion with practical assistance in these very difficult cases. I get more complimentary letters about my consular staff than any other part of the mission, because they are the public face of the FCO and so much of their job is about providing direct help to individuals when they most need it.
Of course some of their work is about providing more routine assistance. For example if people need to travel in an emergency and don’t have a passport, in certain circumstances we can issue an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) which will enable them to make a planned journey. Last year, we issued 3,310 ETDs in Australia (the third highest after Spain and the US). This figure was higher than usual because of the number of people whose passport applications were caught up in a temporary backlog at HM Passport Office in the UK. For the same reason we were also temporarily authorised to extend the validity of expired passports for a further year, and have done 1,900 of these since June 2014. We no longer issue passports at our embassies around the world. You have to apply on-line to HMPO in the UK.
With the consent of the host government, Consular staff are also able to register Same Sex Marriages involving a British partner, in countries where it is not possible to do so under domestic law. Since this facility became available in June last year, we have seen over 60 SSMs at our Australian posts. Previously, we had carried out around 500 Civil Partnerships on a similar basis, between 2006-14. In fact our Consulate in Sydney conducted more CPs (300) than any other British diplomatic post in the world. Since December it has also been possible to convert from Civil Partnerships to Same Sex Marriages and we have seen over 20 of these in Australia so far.
We need our Consular teams aim to be there to help those who most need it. Our consular Contact Centres now provide 24 hour assistance to callers and are usually able to resolve problems and enquiries directly, freeing up front line staff to deal with the most serious cases.
But sometimes people can do things to help themselves avoid getting into situations where they need our consular support. Losing a passport or having one stolen can cause lots of complications. We recommend to travellers, particularly young backpackers who may require ID to get into bars and clubs, that they obtain a Photo Card from Roads and Maritime Services when they are in Australia, so that they can keep their passport safe when they go out. Don’t let your passport expire, or drop below six months validity (many countries won’t let you in unless you have at least six months remaining). Another important piece of advice here is to be careful when entering the surf. Australia has thousands of fabulous beaches, but rip currents are much more dangerous than we are used to in Britain. So it’s important to follow the warning signs and the advice of the local Surf Life Savers, if you want to have a safe as well as enjoyable time at the beach. We’ve been making good use of digital media to put out travel advice on issues like these in recent years. I particularly enjoyed working with Ben Southall on this. You may remember him as the young Brit who won “The Best Job in the World” competition, to become caretaker of an island on the barrier reef five years ago. He’s turned that into a career as an adventurer, travel blogger and video producer and has been a great supporter of our consular work.