Australian Passport processing Time

Question

I went into the consulate the other day to apply for the renewal of my Australian passport as I was born there and haven't renewed it in the past year. I had all the documents in order and the application was approved. The Australian Passports Office website says that it only takes ten days to get a passport but they said at the consulate that it would take six weeks. Also, the online tracker doesn't seem to be working for me, I just keep getting an error page

Are there any other Aussies who could share with me their experience regarding passport waiting time?

Note: I live in Canada, the regional passport processing centre for Australia is in Washington.

Answer 1

Sharing my answer from where this was asked on Travel.SE

Brilliantly, they're not clear on the embassy website for Aussies in Canada. However, after some searching it comes down to two options.

1. The express service - priority processing fee applies, means that your urgent/emergency application can be processed and ready for collection or dispatch within 48 hours.
2. The standard service - where it goes via mail through their center in Washington, DC, most likely, takes 10 working days from receipt of all valid documents:

We are equally committed to prompt processing of passport applications made overseas at any Australian diplomatic or consular mission. In most cases an eligible applicant's full validity passport will be available for collection or despatch from the mission within ten working days of a passport interview if all our requirements are met. It will be issued by one of our passport production centres - London, Washington, or Canberra. You should allow extra time for local mail delivery if you have requested that the passport be mailed to you.

They also point out that if you need it sooner, you should resort to option 1.