Passport controls without people introduced

MICHAEL FIELD/Stuff.co.nz

OPEN SAYS ME: Prime Minister John Key uses his new E-passport at Auckland Airport's new SmartGate system.

John Key opens E-passport system

Prime Minister opens SmartGate

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Australian and New Zealanders arriving in Auckland from across the Tasman now face an electronic passport system that lets them into the country without having to deal with people.

Prime Minister John Key used his diplomatic passport this morning to inaugurate Custom's SmartGate system which will eventually extend to New Zealanders returning from any where in the world.

The system involves E-passports which have electronic chips in them. Passengers scan the passport on an ATM like machine which produces a ticket.

Passengers take that to a gate where they are required to stand on a spot and have their faces scanned electronically.

Mr Key said the system is the result of his discussions last year with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in which the decided to make sure people could travel across the Tasman with ease.

Getting rid of passports on the Tasman was "superficially attractive" but they realised many of the people travelling across the Tasman were not Australians or New Zealanders.

The system currently applied only to them and on Trans-Tasman flights, but would be extended to all returning New Zealanders from anywhere in the world. SmartGates will also be set up in the next year at Wellington and Christchurch.

Mr Key said the system could also be integrated into check-in which would allow a one-stop process and movement from check-in to the plane "without any human intervention".

- © Fairfax NZ News