Esperance

The last few days have been spent exploring Esperance (now that we’re allowed out) and getting yet more paperwork sorted for Daph to start work tomorrow. It never ceases to amaze Daph how much paperwork there is to complete for each contract. And every state is different. Of course.

Daph filled out yet more repetitive forms to apply for the same “national” clearances she had done previously in the other states. She had to scrape together one hundred points of identification to prove who she was to the post office lady. Surely my driver’s licence with a photo of ME emblazoned across the front should suffice, but no. Daph was coming up ten points short.

Daph: “Ummm. Will you accept my library card?

Post office lady: “Do you have a passport? That’s a hundred points on its own.”

Daph had left her passport at home in NSW... because she shouldn’t need a passport to travel interstate!

Daph: “Why do I have to complete another national police check, anyway? It’s NATIONAL! Western Australia is the same nation as South Australia. And New South Wales! And Queensland! Surely if one state has checked me out ‘nationally,’ then that should be okay for every other state? Don’t they check nationwide?! Surely, they check to see if I’ve offended in the whole country?! It would be really nice if they streamlined this shit and put their heads together. It’s ONE COUNTRY, people!!”

The nice post office lady understood Daph’s predicament and fudged the numbers based on the multitude of discount cards, library cards, and coffee club cards she had bulking up her wallet.

Despite Daph’s rant, it all worked out. Daph is NOT an offender. So apart from the inconvenience and the tax-deductible cost, it’s not such a big deal, really.