Australian Passports Act 2005

Australian passports may be issued in the name of the Governor‑General.

Australian travel documents must be issued in forms approved by the Minister.

The name of the person to whom an Australian travel document is issued must appear on the document.

The Minister may refuse any name or signature of the person that the Minister considers to be unacceptable, inappropriate or offensive.

Unless subsection (4) or a circumstance specified in a Minister’s determination applies, the name must be the most recent name:

on the person’s birth certificate; or

on a notice given to the person under section 37 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007; or

on a certificate, entry or record of the person’s marriage, being a certificate granted or entry or record made by the Registrar of births, deaths and marriages (however described) of a State or Territory; or

on a certificate, entry or record relating to the registration of the person’s relationship with another person, being a certificate, entry or record:

issued or made under, or for the purposes of, a law of a State or Territory prescribed for the purposes of section 2E of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901; and

relating to a kind of relationship prescribed for the purposes of that section; and

issued or made by the Registrar of births, deaths and marriages (however described) of the State or Territory concerned; or

included, by way of effecting a name change of the person, on a register kept under a law of a State or Territory by the Registrar of births, deaths and marriages (however described) of the State or Territory.

However, a person may only rely on a certificate, entry or record mentioned in paragraph (5)(c) or (d) for the person’s surname, unless a register mentioned in paragraph (5)(e) shows that the person’s surname has subsequently changed.