Well, I attempted to change my name from my married name of Mouafi back to my maiden name ‘Lorraine Penn’.

My banking account was a breeze; just showed my birth and current marriage certificate and bingo I now have my new account.

Centrelink was another story. The message that greets you when you walk into the office ‘in line or online’.

The trouble with online is you can’t do everything that is required, especially when I am trying to change my name back to maiden name. After going online to change my bank account name details via MyGov, which isn’t instant. I phoned Centrelink’s call centre and the details were changed, but I still had to go to Centrelink to verify my details and to get in that never-ending queue just to prove it is I.

My arrival time at Centrelink Office was 2.25pm I got to see a Centrelink person at 3.40pm, after being asked to wait in the green chairs area.

Needless to say, the Centrelink person couldn’t change my Medicare details, as it is a different department. Back in the bloody queue again, this time I had progressed to the red chairs to wait for another 15 minutes before the Medicare person called out my new name.

One process of name change completed in 1hr and 20 minutes via a Government Department.

It will be another month before I attempt to change my license; I need to recover from today’s experience.