Passport - A Letter from an Aussie to His Government

Dear Mr Minister,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.  How is it that K-Mart has my address and telephone number, and knows that I bought a television set and golf clubs from them back in 1997, and yet the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date? For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand?

My birth date you have in my Medicare information, and it is on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 40 years.

It is also on my driver's licence, on the last eight passports I've ever had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off planes over the past 30 years.

It's also on all those insufferable census forms that I've filled out every 5 years since 1966.

Also... would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Audrey, my father's name is Jack, and I'd be absolutely bloody astounded if that ever changed between now and when I drop dead!

****! What do you people do with all this information we keep having to provide? 

I apologize, Mr Minister. But I'm really pissed off this morning. Between you and me, I've had enough of all this bullshit!

You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my bloody address!  What the hell is going on with your mob? Have you got a gang of mindless Neanderthals working there!

And another thing, look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I can't even grow a beard for God's sakes. I just want to go to New Zealand and see my new granddaughter. (Yes, my son interbred with a Kiwi girl). And would someone please tell me, why would you give a shit whether or not I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? In the unlikely event I ever got the urge to do something weird to a sheep or a horse, believe you me, I'd sure as hell not want to tell anyone!

Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other side of Sydney and get another bloody copy of my birth certificate - and to part with another $80 for the privilege of accessing MY OWN INFORMATION!

Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot, to assist in the issuance of a new passport on the same day?

Nooooo…that'd be too bloody easy and makes far too much sense.

You would much prefer to have us running all over the bloody place like chickens with our heads cut off, and then having to find some 'high-society' idiot to confirm that it's really me in the goddamn photo! You know the photo... the one where we're not allowed to smile? You bloody morons.

Signed - An Irate Australian Citizen.

The above  is an actual letter sent to the DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) Immigration Minister. The Government tried desperately to censure the author, but got nowhere because every legal person who read it couldn't stop laughing! 

I love this as i am renewing mine and the UK is exactly the same lol

zanychef wrote on Mar 27^th, 2015 at 5:29pm:

I love this as i am renewing mine and the UK is exactly the same lol

And the same the world over.

You sure he wasn't English ?????
My son has just lost his job and is trying hard to get another one. But he can't sign on for work till he has a passport. He's 44 years old, born here, schooled here, worked here, been in the british forces, has a photo driving licence, utility bills, medical records, served on a jury, entered on all census forms, is registered to vote and has NO WISH TO GO ABROAD. So now he's on the dole and really struggling he has to pay fo a passport plus extra for pictures plus extra for the post office to check it before it's sent off.

But I bet if he cheated on the dole they'd damned sure know who he is and where to find him, and every move he'd ever made in his whole life.  It's a stealth tax, pure and simple.