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OPINION: Super frustrating ... simple online task made hard

Raelene HallMidwest Times
Just because some government process has gotten ‘smart’ and can be done online doesn’t mean it is less frustrating to deal with.
Camera IconJust because some government process has gotten ‘smart’ and can be done online doesn’t mean it is less frustrating to deal with. Credit: Brand X Pictures/Getty Images/Brand X

Making life easier? What a joke!

The myGovID: I thought ID stood for identification. It actually stands for idiots — either the designers, or idiots like me trying to use it.

When government departments announce something is going to make my life easier, I get a nervous tic!

I’d only just got used to accessing the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House when — bam! — along comes myGovID and it’s down the rabbit hole again.

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I put it off as long as possible, but the dreaded day came when I had to bite the bullet.

I have no idea what happens if you have no mobile coverage.

Fortunately (or maybe not), we have a little so I downloaded the app as per instructions.

Fill in details: email, name, date of birth. Create a password (only a complicated one will do). Scan your documents to prove who you are, except they won’t scan so type them all in. Wind the little wheel halfway back to last century to enter your birth year.

Yahoo — success. Except it’s for the wrong business! Meant to be the station, not my own. Well, if I just do it again using a different email address it should work. Nope!

Try a third email but still won’t work. Use hubby’s name instead of mine. Still nothing.

After a break to regain my cool (I’m talking weeks, not months) I contact the guru at the accountant’s office and after endless emails and a couple of phone calls she finally gets me set up, after making me a director of the company!

Yesterday, I attempt to log into myGovID to do our quarterly superannuation and it tells me I have the wrong password. Oh, my giddy aunt, will this nightmare ever end?

In order to change my password (which I swear on a Bible was correct) I have to go through the whole ID process all over again. Will it work given my passport I used as ID has now expired and my new one is still in the post? Seems my driver’s licence and Medicare card pass muster.

Finally, I am able to login and enter our super. This frustrating, brain draining, idiotic process was all necessary for me to enter a couple of numbers four times per year.

If this is how a government department makes life easier, heaven help me if they ever decide to make anything harder.

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