Monday, September 29, 2008

Government department update

The status at the end of my post ten days ago is that I emailed my local member of parliament, DFAT (which issues passport) and DIAC (who manage immigration and citizenship). A few days later I emailed the Senate Committee on Regulations and Ordinances which oversights legislation developed by all Government departments, with the hope that it might be something they could ask DFAT to review.

So far I've heard from DFAT and DIAC.

DIAC told me it wasn't them, which I've accepted because they can't make DFAT do anything it doesn't want to.

But wait for it; I've had two responses so far from DFAT.

The first said DIAC manages citizenship, so go bother them!

I responded back quickly (and very politely) with an "I don't think you've quite understood me yet, but DFAT is the problem", and "Can you answer the question I posed to you or explain why DFAT and DIAC have different standards for assessing proof of citizenship."

I then got amazing service with a phone call last Friday within four hours of responding to DFAT ... the only problem is that I'd already gone home and the person responding won't be in the office until tomorrow. Just my luck!

But my fingers are crossed that I got dodgy information when I rang DFAT in the first place and my passport will be enough to prove Clarissa's entitlement to Australian citizenship.

Otherwise I'm going to keep complaining.

No comments: