AUSTRALIANS: Where and what kind of trouble they get into overseas

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) has just released its State of Play report for the period 2023-24 period. The facts sheets make for interesting reading. It shows that Australians request consular services mostly when they get into trouble in Thailand (827). Second comes Indonesia (546), followed by the Philippines (528), the United States of America, and the occupied Palestinian Territories (378).

Those top five are followed by Vietnam (366), China (309), Japan (299), India (254) and Italy (240). Tourism levels of Australians internationally have now returned to pre-pandemic levels. For some destinations, numbers are greater than back before the pandemic.

Consular case

So, what of the 53,137 calls received in the financial year 2023-24 is classified as a Consular Case? According to the fact sheets, this is the definition:

‘A consular case is when assistance is provided by Australian officials to an Australian who has encountered difficulties overseas. For example, if they’ve been in an accident, a victim of crime, or arrested.’

DFAT/Smartraveller.gov.au Fact Sheet

That resulted in assistance being provided in 15,200 cases. At any one time, the department is juggling 1,422 active consular cases.

These requests have increased 7% year on year in 2025. The majority of requests are for assistance with ‘welfare and other serious matters, followed by deaths, illness and hospitalisation. Arrests come next, followed by requests for repatriation, ‘Prisoner’ (which sounds alarming) and whereabouts checks.

Crisis Response

DFAT consular services also assist during overseas crises. In the 2023-24 period, DFAT assisted Australians caught up in the conflicts in Ukraine, Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan, and the civil unrest in New Caledonia.

Crisis cases responded to by DFAT totalled 6,160 for the year.

Passports

Looks like Australians are really keen on travel now, with a 28% increase in lost (2,678) and stolen passports (1,942) overseas. Those are all part of the 8,000 emergency passports issued to Australians overseas.

Italy again features as a little hotbed of lost and stolen passports at 613, followed by the USA (479) and Great Britain (400). Closely followed by France (312) and Greece (271).

Interestingly, 56% of Australians hold a current Australian Passport.

2PAXfly Takeout

DFAT provides some exemplary services. However, some Australians have unreasonable expectations of what they can do for them. Organising missing medication, airfares to return to Australia, and the cost of a night’s accommodation are some examples. You can find more case studies, both distressing and heartwarming, here.