Before entering and exiting Australia, one must obtain necessary travel documents first. There are four categories as to what types of travel documents should be acquired.

Australian Citizens

Citizens of Australia may come in and out of Australia easily. They just need an Australian passport which is available from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). This passport also serves as a proof of identity to Australians who travel internationally in accordance with the provisions of the Australian Passports Acts of 2005.

The DFAT also provides online services that would make it easier for Australians to:

• access passport application forms;
• track the progress and change delivery details of an application;
• access passport details;
• learn more about DFAT’s priority processing service;
• report a and pay for passport lost or stolen;
• pay the priority processing fee;
• complete and print a child alert request form;
• view the current turnaround times for their offices

Permanent Residents of Australia

Permanent residents of Australia need the following:

• Resident Return Visa (RRV) – valid for 3 months to 5 years; RRV permits Australian permanent residents to roam in and out of Australia as often as they wish within the validity of the visa, while maintaining their status
• Authority to Return/Return Endorsement
• Multiple Re-entry Visa (for new migrants)

New Zealanders

Citizens of New Zealand who wish to come into Australia just need to present a New Zealand passport which may obtained from the New Zealand High Commission.

Other Travellers

For travellers from different parts of the globe who would want to touch the Australian soil, they must first get an Australian visa which they can get from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. They could also present an Electronic Travel Authority, an electronic means of issuing a visa for travel to Australia for a short stay and no visa label is placed in the passport which is available from participating travel agencies and airlines, and from Australian visa offices overseas.

Source:  Australian Immigration    http://immi.gov.au