With security increasingly on the agenda of politicians, it’s a good time to ask whether New Zealand’s 5-year passport regime is adequate. Last year, the Taxpayers’ Union released an in-depth, comprehensive and well-rounded report prompting debate about the cost of New Zealand’s passports.

Prime Minster Key has not ruled out a select committee report recommending 10-year passports, since they were abolished in 2005. Ten years on, are our passports in line with other countries?

The 10-year passport should be reintroduced.

Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne said, “moving to a 10-year passport could lead to higher upfront passport fees”. That’s not an issue. A simple calculation of per-year cost shows that many countries with ten year passports fare better than us. The Taxpayers’ Union shows that Canada, Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom all have 10-year passports and are all cheaper.

New Zealand’s passports are expensive. With 63 years of adulthood, at $28 per year, this represents $1,764NZD spent on passports. Canadians and Americans will pay $630NZD and $624NZD less across their adulthood, respectively. Even if upfront fees increased by $100, an unlikely amount, an adult would save up to $252 in the long run.

That only represents tangible cost.

What’s missed in the media and research is the intangible cost of having 5-year passports. Our passport effectively gives us 4.5 years as often rules prohibit travelling with only 6 months validity.

In addition, New Zealanders will have to submit papers, sign forms and produce photographs twice as often in their lifetime as the Chinese, Canadians, Americans, Britons and Australians, to name a few.

All tangible and intangible burdens imply an opportunity cost on society.

Those in favour of the 5-year passports say the longer period will affect the validity of security features. If that’s the case, then why don’t we require new passports yearly, quarterly, or even monthly?

109 million Chinese tourists, with 10-year passports, travelled the world last year. That’s around 24 times our population. 2.8 million tourists visited New Zealand in 2014, almost all of them landing with 10-year passports. If other countries don’t see their passports affecting the validity of security features, should New Zealand? After all, domestic security is an international effort.

The scrutiny of travellers lies with border officers. Their training and endowment is what matters. They swipe or stamp travellers into our magnificent country.

The government should look at what others are doing. With any proposed changes the state must remember that the perceived integrity of New Zealand’s frontline is just as important as the technology in the passport.