Passports

All issues relating to passports are subject to appeal to the AAT. An illustrative case is Abrams v Min for Foreign Aff’s & Trade (DFAT) [2007] AATA 1816 (28.9.07) where the applicant, an Australian citizen, had a sex change operation in Thailand to change her gender from male to female.  But prior to her sex change operation she married her present partner (who was a female). DFAT would not change the details on the passport to reflect the gender change operation. The reason for doing so was that the Australian Marriage Act did not recognise same sex marriages.