After the baby's birth, it's not only the baby that needs caring for but also the related bureaucracy, which is no less difficult!
嬰兒出生後，除了照顧，也有些政府事務要辦理的，只不過在澳洲，難度不亞於照顧嬰兒！
Birth certificates in Australia are issued by individual states, and in our state of Victoria the rule is to apply for one within 60 days of birth (my Dutch friend found this unbelievable as the time limit in the Netherlands is only 3 days!) The only channel of application is online and the advertised typical processing time is 9 weeks! Wife and I wondered how difficult issuing a piece of paper could be, and 9 weeks was actually no exaggeration. We applied about 3 weeks after baby's birth, and 5 weeks after submission we were asked to provide further information. Eventually we got the certificate at the end of February at the 5-month mark!
「出世紙」（香港對出生證明書的俗稱）是一生人第一份身份證明文件，在澳洲由歸每個州管轄。我們所在的維多利亞州規定嬰孩出生後60天登申請（我的荷蘭朋友覺得不可思議，因為當地必須在3天內登記嬰孩出生！），唯一渠道是網上申請，而且一般處理時間是9週！我和太太心想，發一張出世紙有多難啊？結果原來9週不是虛言，我們10月中網上申請後約5週，收到通知要補交一些資料，最終2月底才收到--那時小孩已5個月大了！
We actually had some queries after submission. The hotline required a wait time of 3 hours, while the online form only allowed 'Questions' or 'Compliment' - how arrogant of the authority not accepting feedback and complaints! I filled in the form but heard nothing back, while wife was smart enough to notice the phone numbers of certain offices that could accept supplementary materials for certificate applications. We tried one of those numbers, and voilà, all our questions were answered in just 2 minutes.
遞交申請後，其實我們有疑問想查詢，致電負責部門的熱線，錄音告知要等3小時，網上表格，通訊類別只可選「查詢」或「表揚」，「意見回饋」和「投訴」不受理，好一副嘴臉啊！我真的給部門發了個查詢表格，一直沒回音，倒是太太聰明，留意到有些相關辦公室容許申請人親自遞交某些補充資料而且有直線電話號碼，然後致電其中一處，不消兩分鐘問到答案。
Another important document is the Medicare card (national government healthcare card), which is under federal jurisdiction. Unlike Britain where a baby is registered with the NHS within 36 hours of birth by healthcare workers, or Hong Kong where enrolment in local healthcare is simultaneous with the application of birth certificate, in Australia it's a separate application process by parents to be completed within 1 year of birth (but honestly, who would leave their child without state healthcare for such a long time?!) The online application form required the uploading of a copy of birth certificate, but given the wait time for one, what would happen if the baby required state healthcare in the meantime? We decided to ask directly at one Centrelink office (Australian government agency which helps the public with social security matters) - I seemed to remember that Centrelink could process Medicare applications on the spot.
另一樣重要文件是國民保健卡，屬澳洲聯邦政府管理。有別於英國國民保健由醫護人員於嬰孩出生36小時內登記、或香港親身申領出世紙時馬上納入公營醫療系統，澳洲需要家長替嬰孩申請，而且有1年時限（但有誰會拖延啊，畢竟國民保健是項重要的保障）。我們上網看過申請網站，其中一個要求是出世紙，我和太太都納悶：萬一嬰孩等出世紙期間要看病或入院，沒國民保健的話，難以想像要付多少醫療費！我們決定到聯邦政府的民眾服務處（Centrelink）親自查詢--我印象中Centrelink可能還可以現場處理申請的。
In the Centrelink office, we told the staff member that the 9-week wait for birth certificate was simply too long, but then the staff member advised that we could also upload the copy of page 4 of the form that every baby received upon discharge from hospital. (Then why didn't the online form say so?!) The staff member then spent another 10 minutes teaching us how to download the Centrelink app and complete the application ourselves but declined to process the application themselves. We had to put up with the application ourselves, after all.
在Centrelink辦公室，我們告訴職員出世紙要等9星期太久了，職員竟然告知，其實填寫好醫院派發的那4頁新生嬰兒表格，把第4頁掃描或攝影一份上載至申請網站也可！（那為什麼不在網站寫明啊？！）之後職員花了10分鐘教我們如何下載應用程式自己行處理申請，就是不肯現場替我們處理，我們也拿他沒法。
Fortunately the online Medicare application was not difficult, and another parent suggested that we could phone up to check the progress. We found time to do so about a week afterwards, and following a half-hour wait on the phone, the operator helped to clear the application in 15 minutes. We were so relieved - and also thought that the Centrelink staff in the office could have spent the time processing our application instead of teaching us about the app!
網上申請國民保健不難，也有家長提示可以打電話催促，網上申請後約一周我們找到一段空檔時間打電話，等了半小時，接線後職員花了約15分鐘便為把整件事辦妥，我們頓時放下了心頭大石（也想，Centrelink職員時教導我們的時間，其實也足夠讓他幫我們處理啊！）
While government bureaucracy is hardly a matter for rejoice, we did find some joy at the end of the phone call to Medicare as the operator congratulated us on the baby's birth before hanging up. The warmth and human touch made all this trouble a lot more bearable!
澳洲公務的煩瑣和延宕，這回讓我們深深體會了，不過，當國民保健的職員在掛電話線前祝賀嬰孩誕生時，也讓我們感受到澳洲公務人員的人性化一面。也許這是澳洲特色搭配之一吧。
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