MyGovId is Robodebt II?

Medicare Card with Wrong Name

Australian company directors have until 30 November to register with MyGovId. The ABC reported that about a million have not yet done so and each risk a fine of $13,000. The registration requires providing multiple forms of identification, with matching names. This may prove impossible by following the instructions issued. This may result in a situation similar to RoboDebt, where a badly designed automated government system caused suffering for a section of the Australian population, and is now the subject of a Royal Commission. The Australian Government needs to extend the deadline and clarify how IDs are matched.

A few weeks ago I called Medicare to have my name changed on my card, to match what is on my passport. This was so I could link it to my MyGov account. I was told my name had been changed, and was able to link it to MyGov. I elected not to have a new physical card issued, and was assured this would be okay.

However, yesterday I checked my online Medicare record, and discovered that while my Medicare record has the correct name, the facsimile of the card shown on screen has the old name. So I requested a new card. My medicare record now shows a new card, but still with the old name. So on the one screen it says for "Thomas Worthington" the card is issued to "Tom Worthington".

The MyGovId instructions say to enter the name on the card. But that name is not the name on my Medicard records, or my passport. Is this the only case in which following the instructions will not work?

PARKROYAL Hotel on Pickering Street Singapore

ParkRoyal on Pickering in Singapore.
Photo by Tom Worthington CC-BY 2022

Singapore is leading the way with Biomorphic Architecture, and the PARKROYAL Hotel, 3 Upper Pickering St, is a good example. 

The Luggage Market Singapore

The Luggage Market in Singapore,
Photo by Tom Worthington CC-BY November 2022

The Luggage Market in Singapore is worth a visit, if just to see the spectacle. Took me while to work out it is not a market for selling luggage, but one where people bring things (mostly clothes) in a suitcase, open it on the floor and allow others to rummage through.

Battlebox Singapore

Standing outside the bunker where the decision was made to surrender Singapore in World War Two, there is very much a sense of history. It must be confronting for British tourists to hear how their military lost. There are lessons for Australians, on the limits of alliances. The "Battlebox" tour of the bunker is worthwhile.

Ez-link isn't easy

The friendly staff at Changi Airport called around until someone came to open the Travelex booth. They quickly handed me my Singtel combined SIM & travel card. Took some time to get the SIM to work, as the number to use was on a label which sealed the card in a bag, and had to be split in half, through the serial number, to open. Tried to top up the travel part of the card, but the MRT station machines only accept Singapore credit cards, no cash. So I had to wait until the staff arrived at 6am. They only take cash, but I had some. With all that done the SIM and the transport works well. 

SIMless in Singapore

Greetings from the arrivals hall at Changi Airport Singapore, where I await someone to open a booth to give me the Singtel SIM card I ordered. The two 24 hour Traveled booths remain closed.