(1)

If a competent authority believes on reasonable grounds that a person (the debtor ) owes money to the Commonwealth in respect of:

(a) expenses incurred by the Commonwealth on behalf of the debtor in a foreign country; or
(b) money lent to the debtor by the Commonwealth when the debtor was outside Australia; or
(c) expenses incurred by the Commonwealth in, or in connection with, effecting the debtor's departure from a foreign country;

the competent authority may make a refusal/cancellation request in relation to the debtor.

Note: See also Subdivision D.

(2)

If a competent authority makes a request under subsection (1), the Minister must not issue an Australian passport to the debtor.

(3)

Subsection (2) does not prevent the Minister from issuing an Australian passport to the debtor if the Minister is satisfied:

(a) that the debtor's welfare (physical or psychological) would be adversely affected if the debtor were not able to travel internationally; or
(b) that the debtor urgently needs to travel internationally because of a family crisis.

(4)

In this section: