The twang of red tape

Just started looking at the administrative details of getting to LCA2006 in Dunedin, and the sad fact of the matter is that gummint red tape (passport $170, citizenship processing $110 (I was born in Canada of Australian parents and exported here at age 2), proof of permanent residency (before any of my chidren were born, so I can get passports for them) $70, departure tax $38, probably some other chicken poop not yet discovered) will cost more than actually attending LCA (and take ≅5 weeks to arrange), and will even rival the cost of the airfares, one way.

I suspect that the only reason more complaint isn’t raised is that airfares to anywhere beyond Singapore or the Land of the Large White Crowd tend to dwarf the cost of the assorted red tape. I cringe when I consider that processing times and costs (except for the Departure Tax) have come down dramatically in the past few decades.

If you’re a born and bred Australian, a passport should only take ten days to process, but if I were travelling to LCA2006 and in your shoes I would apply for one today anyway.

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Plantagenet Penguinista

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