In Reply to: passport posted by wilson on Tuesday, 26. January 2010 at 10:13 Bali Time:
The Passport Office will try to ring the father when a mother tries to renew or obtain a passport for a child. I presume their reasoning is that a mother may be trying to remove a child from Australia against the wishes of the father.
When I was working in the Middle East, I received a phonecall from the the Passport Office in Canberra, They wanted to know whether I would permit them to issue a passsport for my 4 year old daughter. I replied in the affirmative, as my wife and daughter were intending to visit me, thus the need for a new passport for my daughter.
In your case, a stat dec stating that the childrens' father is uncontactable should be enough.