The federal government is spending $56.1 million to roll out the Australia Travel Declaration, its new digital passenger card.
The Australia Travel Declaration is replacing the orange paper card at every Australian international airport, ending the mid-flight pen hunt.
The change runs under a scheme called the Australia Travel Declaration, a digital version of the incoming passenger card. The federal government has set aside $56.1 million over four years to modernise arrivals, working with the Australian Border Force, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Qantas. A trial has been running since October 2024, and more than 450,000 passengers on eligible inbound Qantas flights into Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne have already used it.
Australia Travel Declaration
- From October 2024: pilot running on inbound Qantas flights into Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
- Before the end of 2026: trial expands to Perth and Adelaide
- Across a 12 to 18-month window: national rollout to every international airport and seaport, starting with a webform
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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The government reckons the trial has gone well enough to keep pushing it out. The declaration lets people submit their arrival details ahead of time instead of filling in a form on descent, which trims the manual paperwork and gets travellers out of the terminal faster. Because the information is collected before landing, the government says it ends up with better data for its risk checks.
The rollout is phased. Once Perth and Adelaide come on board, every international airport and seaport moves across over a 12 to 18-month stretch. It begins as a webform, with an in-app option planned once industry has had a hand in shaping it. The same pot of money also covers work on airport departures and cruise terminal clearance.
The federal government has framed the investment as a way to manage rising traveller numbers after the pandemic and ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. It also lays the groundwork for biometric processing at the border. Biosecurity sits near the centre of the pitch, with earlier and cleaner information meant to catch potential risks before they arrive. The government points to more than $2 billion in extra biosecurity resourcing since 2022.
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