My heart stopped. I stared at the document in unbelief.
How did I get a Summons to appear in court on the other side of the world? In one week!?
Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I felt sick to my stomach.
How am I gonna get out of this?
My mind raced through all the red tap and hoops I would have to jump through. Then I read the words: If you fail to appear on the specified date and time, a warrent for your arrest will be issued.
What? All this over forgetting to vote?
You see, it’s compulsary to vote in Australia. If you are on the Register, you have to vote. Or you get fined. I missed an election 2 years ago and did not receive a fine notice, so I failed to pay the fine. Hence, the Summons.
I prepared myself for a long wait on hold and a Battle as I dialed the number on the Summons. Instead, I was immediately greeted by a pleasant and helpful operater. She even remembered that my mother had called earlier that day! “Just call the Electoral Commission and explain the situation. It’ll all be cleared up”, she said.
So, I called the Electoral Commission. Again, I was greeted by a pleasant operater.
“So why did you miss the election?” she asked.
“Because I was overseas”, I said.
“Okay. I’ll put that in the system. The fine and the summons have been retracted. Everything is settled.”
What? No way! That’s too easy! Are you sure there isn’t a catch???
No. No Catch.
After living in Thailand and America, I am so used to the Beauracracy of Overbearing Government and it’s Officials. I expected to have to fill out 10,000 forms, in triplicate, and sign away the Birth Right of my First Born in order to get this sorted out. And then live the rest of my life in Exile from the Country of my Birth.
Instead, in less than 10 minutes I went from being Exile to Upstanding Citizen.
Yeah, I know, it’s all very Melodramatic. I’ll admit it. I’m a Drama Queen.
After the dust had settled and my heart started beating again, I asked my Darling Husband, “What are we doing here? Why don’t we go live in Australia? It’s just so much easier!” He actually agreed with me. But we both agreed that, for a myriad of reasons, this is the place we need to be. For now.
Have you ever had a brush with Beauracracy? Was it easy to deal with, or did you have to jump through Ridiculous Hoops like a Circus Animal?
You must of been sincere with them. Aussy officials generally respond well to politeness and sincerity. I love Aus to my core, but I hate living Sydney. Maybe one day we should all move to Adelaide. It's just been voted the 6th most livable city in the entire world.
Yes, I was very polite and sincere with them. And very scared. I had already looked up the cost of tickets to Australia – I really thought I was gonna have to go in and plead my case. One day… eventually… we will move to Oz so that my kiddos can develop cute little yobbo accents. And yes, we'll probably live in Adelaide. Unless, of course you can find us a better offer in Sydney.
Oh bureaucracy! I will never understand people who love paperwork, forms and never-ending paper trials! 😛
I definitely would've been panicking too. What a relief that you didn't have to plan a last minute visit. I hope to visit Australia someday. It's been on my wish list since I was a teenager. I have a couple of American friends who have lived there in recent years and I love seeing their gorgeous photos of the country on Facebook. As for Adelaide, it's at the tippy top of my list future girls names. I love it!