Among all the cliches about well-remunerated, cautious and indolent bureaucrats, perhaps the public service which most regularly comes to mind when the term ‘fat cat’ is invoked is that of Foreign Affairs.
Exotic postings, constant travel and entertainment paid for by the public purse — you get the idea.
And the reputation for timidity is somewhat enhanced when the plight of the persecuted (think Kylie Moore-Gilbert in Iran, Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun in China, Sean Turnell in Myanmar and the ubiquitously-persecuted Julian Assange) is not seen to be ameliorated. This is despite the sense that in the back channels of diplomacy and leverage SES operatives in Canberra and consular executives overseas are quiet achievers who are getting things done inch by inch, against the white noise of politicians’ and (some) unhelpful media’s grandstanding. Still, the image remains of a cadre of spoiled, aloof word-parsers who don’t have the welfare of the average Australian at heart.
Well, dear reader, I bring you a little tale of good news about my recent experience with DFAT. Recently I was on an extended trip in Europe and Turkey when my passport was stolen in Berlin. I had still two months of travel across several countries ahead of me when this happened. And I was booked to fly to Norway within 48 hours. What to do?
My first instinct was to search DFAT’s website for what to do in such an emergency. What I found was not encouraging. It was all about the department managing its risk and little about how they might assist a vulnerable citizen. Still, what info there was suggested that if I did all the work (for example, providing other identity documentation that had been stolen along with the passport) they could issue me with an ’emergency travel document’. This document would allow me to travel directly home to Australia without spending any time in another country except as a transit passenger.
Luckily, I was in Germany’s capital so an Australian embassy was close by. I arrived at the Berlin embassy at 10am on a Monday morning with a plane to catch to Oslo 24 hours later. After reading through the information on DFAT’s website I was not feeling confident and was expecting to have to unravel two months of forward travel and try to find a flight home.
Imagine my surprise when I met with an open and sympathetic attitude from consular staff. I was asked to fill in some documentation and provide some passport-quality photos. In the meantime the staff worked with people back in Canberra (this would have been between 8 and 11pm Canberra time). I was asked to come back in the afternoon without any promises made. Yet when I returned at 3:30pm I was handed a new passport. Talk about under-promising and over-delivering! I thanked the officer profusely and he modestly absorbed my praise for a truly remarkable service.
I may have been lucky that all my stars aligned to make it happen. I was close to an embassy when my passport was stolen, the staff could have been unusually helpful, it could have been a slow day in the embassy, and nightshift passport staff back home could have been unnaturally prompt. But I prefer to think of it as a regular state-of-mind: a positive, can-do attitude of public servants who can make a real difference to a citizen stranded and in need of assistance.
READ MORE:
High Commission in Kenya ‘diplomatic heart’ of Australia’s presence in East Africa
Any feedback or news tips? Here’s where to contact the relevant team.