Inertia or Innovation - you choose Virginia #auspol

It’s not very often that I subject myself to an "encounter" with one of our government agencies - because the process is just so painful. It is also a bit embarrassing - because as I keep explaining to my international friends - Australia thinks of itself as an advanced nation.

Last week was a bit special because I had three such encounters.

Firstly, I received a bill from one of our public hospitals for some work that they did to me about a month ago. No complaint with the work though. Of course there is no ability to make payment over the internet or via BPAY or anything else even vaguely convenient. They do take Visa and MasterCard over the phone. And curiously they still accept Bankcard - which closed in 2007.

And the calling number that they published was continually engaged. It took me nearly three days on-and-off to get through before they managed to take my payment.

Got me thinking that perhaps we should upgrade our public health payment processes - before we spend money on shiny new hospitals.

Secondly, I am trying to track down the detail of my Army Service. I was a National Serviceman or "Nasho" during the early 1970's and recently discovered that I have lost my record of service. I want to get it re-issued so I can trot it out as "evidence" of my gung-ho nationalism. Not. The dog also ate my slouch hat and my GP's but that is another story.

So I Googled the Central Army Records Office and sent them an email with my request. Nope - can't do it they said, we must have a "real" letter for our "records", one that is "signed" before the request can be processed.

So I wrote my letter, headed into my office to print it on A4, signed it, went to the Post Office for an envelope and a stamp, queued for 20 minutes, grumbled a bit, sealed it and then sent it off. About two hours effort versus 5 minutes.

Made me wonder if we shouldn't fix our military records management systems - before we acquire a dozen new submarines.

Thirdly, I received a letter from the South Australian Motor Vehicle Registry. Everyone fears this agency because of the arbitrary nature of the revenue chasing schemes that they cook up and the penalties they impose. And this one is a cracker.

I have let the registration of one of my classic Citroen's lapse - because I am not there often enough to use it and the registration fee is way too much. Anyway the letter wants me to return the plates or suffer an "Expiation Fee" because the car has been unregistered for 90 days?

The reason they gave for wanting the plates back is: "to stop them falling into the wrong hands". Say what?

Of course there is no way to send them an email or a TXT or a tweet - or even a fax to get them off my back. Nope I must write a letter, print it out on A4, sign it and then hunt down an envelope and a stamp and finally send it off. And if all that takes too long then I will get another letter informing me of the size of the "Expiation Fee".

It occurred to me that if we were to fix our motor vehicle registry processes - they probably wouldn't need to go off in search of more revenue.

If they still want the plates back then I will put my two remaining stamps on them and post them in the red box.

Isn't *Inertia* a fantastic word - much better than that other one - *Innovation*?