DIA should be congratulated for pro-active good service

The Herald reports:

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden is making inquiries after a high-ranking public servant messaged musician Fred Again about a Wellington DJ who needed to fast-track her passport so she could play a gig with him overseas. …

“I get emails every day from people when they need some form of assistance or there’s an issue or a problem.”

Robertson had no involvement with decisions on Hills’ passport.

“We did our job, and we do that job for urgent passport applications hundreds of times per week,” she said.

“There’s nothing particularly unusual about it.

“People have all manner of needs that are met. A really important part of our job . . . is to respond to the needs. Not everyone has three days’ warning.”

The Government passports website notes that people who need to travel urgently in less than three working days have an avenue to sort their urgent travel, by making the application then calling the passports office straight away.

“It is a really important part of our job.

“Our responsiveness is something we pride ourselves on . . . it doesn’t matter who you are, if you have an urgent need and we can meet that need, we will help everyone.”

I think this has had scrutiny because of the former Government’s decisions to prioritise DJs over pregnant mums for getting into NZ. But this is not the case here (if what has been stated is true).

The DIA passport system is one of the best online services in NZ and the world. You can do it all online, and even without urgency often get your passport within a few days. When it is flagged as urgent, they often have managed it within 24 hours. I know several families whose holidays were saved by DIA being so focused.

So the DJ wasn’t getting special treatment here. All that happened was a son of a DIA official told their mum about it, and she passed it onto the passports team (this was on top of the official application, not in lieu of).

I think DIA should be congratulated for being pro-active in helping someone who had an opportunity of a lifetime, and making it happen.