Australia Application Card: Fill & Download for Free

In NSW it's quite simple. Just go online. Enter your card number and update new address. The stickers for new address will be posted to your new address. You can paste them on your DL, Photo Card and any other applicable card issued by service NSW.

If credit cards were implemented in the US or Australia like they are in Japan, then the US and Australia would also be cash-centric societies.ATMs in Japan are obnoxious to use. They have hours just like a bank and for some mysterious reason ‘close’ (really turn off) in the evening.Many purchases require signatures even if they are tiny amounts, which wastes time.Out of Japan’s credit card users, many are victimised by fraud every year.I have heard Japan described humorously as a Cargo cult—in Anthropology, this refers to a primitive pre-industrial society that sees modern technology and tries to implement it by copying the aesthetics without the features, and then worships it:Of course, Japan is a lot more developed than this. I say again, this comparison is humorous—it’s an exaggeration.However, there are a lot of old things and old procedures though that seem to get reused even though they are 30 or 40 years old. Many companies in Japan use Fax Machines.When my youngest brother studied in Hokkaido, he had to fax tons of documents because they would not accept email.In Australia in the meantime, I simply hit “scan” on my iPhone’s Notes Application, scan it to email and then hit “send.”Another factor that comes to mind is the age of the population. Not only is new credit card technology slow to be implemented, but the population is ageing. Older people are less likely to use debit or credit cards and, because of this, merchants have less incentive to accomodate them.

Oh gosh, this is difficult, as we Aussies are generally self-deprecating and dislike overt displays of patriotism (except in sports, and on Australia Day). But I'll try. :)For context, I've travelled to the US (many times), Canada, Egypt, Morocco, UK (a few times), Israel, Italy, and NZ. And I had Vietnamese housemates for a decade, so have extensively discussed that country.Rural vs Urban AustraliaI grew up in rural Australia, and there is a distinct difference between urban Australia (~90% of the population) and rural Australia. I think the distinction is because rural Australia is much more homogeneously white, has fewer government employees, and has access to fewer government services. I think that all of these factors contribute to a lower level of trust in government, and higher suspicion of non-Caucasians, than is true in Australian cities.Social trustPerhaps the most distinguishing feature of Australia is that we have a very high level of social trust. This overlaps with many of the things that David Urquhart mentioned. When we interact with merchants, we expect that they are not trying to cheat us. We trust our government. It's relatively large, and employs a good portion of us, so we feel a sense of ownership over it. We know that good, decent people make up government employees, because many of our friends and family are in those departments. We generally don't resent our relatively high taxes, because we know that we get quality goods and services in return.And I think it's this high level of social trust which allows us to have restrictive gun laws, and for there not to be any significant opposition. We trust that our police are competent. We trust that our government is not going to start trying to "take things away" from us. We trust that the police are effective in limiting the black-market for illegal weapons, and will turn up when we need help. We trust that our car will be where we parked it when we come back, and that nobody will have broken into our home.We also trust that we'll get great healthcare in hospitals, that we'll be looked after with housing and food if we fall on hard times, that our schools and universities will provide a quality education, and that our public transport will operate as per the timetables. And all those trusts are largely repaid. We live in an incredibly safe, low-corruption society.Our contradictory views on raceConfusingly, we're somewhat racist in an impersonal sense, yet behave consistently with egalitarian ideals on an individual basis. We have strong laws against racism and hate speech, and most people support that. You're highly unlikely to hear people, other than a minority, say "I hate group X", or similar.Racism manifests itself much more subtly. For example, there's a widely-held perception that a few hundred or thousand asylum seekers per year - largely from the Middle East and South Asia - represent some enormous threat to our way of life. It's despicable, and still a minority view, but it's a sizable minority and both the major political parties play up to it by demonising asylum seekers. This is one of the most shameful things about contemporary Australia, in my view.Yet even against this background, you could turn up at a barbecue with a Sri Lankan friend who's awaiting the outcome of their asylum application, and even if the people there were generally anti-asylum seeker, I guarantee that nearly everybody would want to meet your friend and find out about their country and make them feel welcome and an honoured guest. And those who were strongly anti-asylum seeker are highly likely to be less so, or even have changed their view entirely, as a result of the encounter. Many people who have "impersonal racism" are that way because of lack of exposure, in my experience. This phenomenon is stronger in rural Australia.Aware of the wider contextI think that relative to many other countries, we're very outward-looking. We know we're a small and isolated nation, so we follow politics in countries around the world.We're also aware that relative to the vast majority of the world's population, and particularly relative to most of our regional neighbours (excepting New Zealand), we're extremely privileged, and I think that we somewhat feel a need to "atone" for our unearned privilege. Consequently, we have a very high participation rate in organisations like Amnesty International, and are active in social justice campaigns. This is less pronounced in rural Australia.Social supportThis also flows through to generous social security. Australia's unemployed receive more income than US minimum wage. We don't have a limit on how long you can receive unemployment benefits, though you do have to apply for jobs, possibly participate in retraining, and show a genuine attempt to find work. There's still a huge disincentive to remain unemployed because employed people in Australia earn so much more than that.Likewise, people with disabilities also have generous entitlements. Some people whine about "all my taxes paying for these bludgers", but there's no significant movement attacking these benefits, and certainly no significant body advocating for their abolition. I think that most Aussies see that our economy's doing very well, so it's not a big deal. We're happy to provide some minimum level of dignity to those who can't work, and the very few who won't work would probably be more trouble in the workplace than they're worth and detract from productivity, so it's a small price to pay to just "keep them out of the way". I also think it contributes to our very low levels of homelessness and relatively low rates of property crime.Rural Australians are generally less inclined to support our generous social security, perhaps because many are farmers and work extremely hard for their living.Pragmatism trumps idealismOur attitude towards social security leads me neatly into pragmatism. Aussies really don't get as worked up as many other nations about what's fair and what our rights are; I think we're more concerned with practicalities and getting an optimal outcome, even if it's not perfect. I also think we're more focused on fulfilling our responsibilities relative to asserting our rights.Free speechI think most Aussies, unlike Americans (in particular), are perplexed by Voltaire's famous quote - "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" - being applied to distasteful racist speech, for example. I certainly respond to that with: "No, I am not willing to defend, even with a signature, the right of a bigot to be hateful, and I'm certainly not willing to defend that conduct with my life." It seems that in many places, ideology trumps pragmatism. Australia's all about what's optimal: is it better risking one's life in a fight for a bigot to be allowed to be hateful, or have the bigot shut up? It seems an easy and obvious choice to me, and I suspect most of my fellow Australians.ClassWe're a very egalitarian society; we don't like class-consciousness, pomp and ceremony, and formality. Even though we do largely segregate into classes - in the sense that there are higher and lower socioeconomic areas - this is largely just because we accept that everybody wants to live in "as nice an area as they can afford", and it's not acceptable to think that that makes you "better" than people of other classes. (Though "bogans" - kind of like "rednecks" in the US - are fodder for a good number of affectionate jokes. Particularly if you imply that you're also a bit bogan in some ways - see self-deprecation further down.)PoliticsParty politics is considered gauche to discuss in most social contexts. A particular political issue - such as asylum seeker policy, or taxes, or health funding - may be discussed at work or socially, and one's position might happen to align with a particular party, but we are very careful to restrict discussion to positions on that particular issue, and try not to get too emotive or expand it to the parties. If somebody's getting very riled up, others usually walk away (with a sense of horror at this person's poor self-control and bad manners).Whilst in the US I note that people might call themselves "a Democrat" or "a Republican"; that terminology is never applied to non-politicians in Australia. At most, one might claim to be "an ALP voter". We generally think that there's no party that everybody agrees with, and many people are swinging voters, and that's because our society is less fragmented and the ideological differences between our two major parties actually aren't that large. Elections are largely decided upon the issues extant at the time of an election, not because the country as a whole is more or less affiliated with a particular party. To call yourself "a Liberal" (one of our parties), for example, would be viewed as quite extreme unless you're actually an elected official. You very rarely see displays of political affiliation, such as bumper stickers, for example. It's generally considered to be in poor taste.ReligionReligion is largely a non-issue. The default assumption is that people are either atheist, or "non-practising Christian" or "culturally Christian". Very few people regularly attend church. We're a very secular society. Overtly religious people are frequently viewed with some suspicion. (As present Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a relatively devout Catholic, has experienced.)Many views expressed by the religious right of the US - such as being pro-life, anti-contraception, anti-sex education, anti-gay, or anti-evolution - are virtually unheard of in Australian public discourse, and when heard, are near-unanimously condemned. There's a South Australian Senator, Cory Bernardi, who's probably quite centrist by Republican standards, but is widely considered a lunatic extremist in Australia, and is virtually the only Australian politician to hold even some of these views. The opposite position on all those issues is the default and the overwhelming consensus, even amongst those politicians who are religious. Our politicians generally accept that they are elected to represent their constituents, and their constituents overwhelmingly don't share their religious beliefs.Self-deprecationWe don't take ourselves, and each other, too seriously. There is almost nothing that's not good material for a joke. Sometimes we go too far. But our constant ribbing of each other keeps us humble, and actually, I think promotes our self-development. We learn resilience at a young age, as our siblings and school friends tease us about our red hair, or awkward gait, or bad throwing skills, or whatever. We have improved in recent decades in distinguishing between "harmless teasing", and "bullying". If it's obvious that somebody's really upset by being teased about something, fortunately, others usually pick up on that and it's dropped. But laughing at our own, and others', benign foibles is a national pastime. We're extremely irreverent in our sense of humour, too: we don't respect somebody simply for holding an office, or for being old, or winning an award, for example. Respect is for who you are as a person, not for any symbols or offices that you happen to be associated with.Business and professionalsOne manifestation of the last-mentioned phenomenon is that business cards quite often don't list qualifications, even when they're entirely relevant. When they are listed, it's much less prominently than seems the norm in many other countries. It's also rare here to list the institution from which you obtained your qualifications. A degree from any Australian university is a quality degree; we largely don't care whether you went to a G8 (Group of 8, admittedly less prestigious but analogous to "Ivy League") university or not. In any case, it's your present quality of work that's important, not your contacts or the prestige of your university.The underdog or "battler"We love the underdog. We'll more loudly proclaim, and laugh about, our failures than our successes. Bragging and self-promotion is culturally frowned upon, but admitting your failures and laughing at them goes down really well. Before each election, both political parties work hard to give the impression that they feel sure they're going to lose, even if they have a lead in the polls, because research has shown it's a vote-winning strategy; we love an underdog!The weatherTemperature aside, we have incredibly deep blue skies, that I really miss when travelling in some other parts of the world. I took the bright sun and blue skies for granted until I spent three weeks in the UK winter some years ago, and got a strong sense that I may have been suffering the onset of Seasonal Affective Disorder. It wasn't pleasant, and I say in all sincerity that I feel very sorry for those who don't get enough sun. It's not a joking matter; it can profoundly impact mental health.The dark spotsMy hope for Australia is that we continue enjoying our many blessings, whilst addressing the dark spots:The plight of indigenous Australians. I don't think the appalling progress in this area is primarily due to a lack of will or money, but because it's extremely complex, see Tracey Bryan's answer to How are indigenous/aboriginal people treated in Australia?Our treatment of asylum seekers. Bring on onshore processing. Allow people to fly in and apply for asylum rather than risking their lives on the ocean.More options and support for people with mental illness and disabilities. The forthcoming National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will, I hope, go some way to helping people with disabilities access services to enhance their quality of life, but we have a long way to go with regards to mental health.Foreign aid. We're not even close to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.SummaryWe have an extraordinarily good quality of life. Expenses are very high, but so are incomes. Our "poor" are much less poor than in most of the world. We have very high levels of personal safety. We have world-class universities and healthcare. We love to laugh and are very irreverent. We have an abundance of sun and good weather. We are indeed very blessed. And I hope we'll keep working at ensuring that all Australians, and prospective Australians, have access to that quality of life, and that we share a bit more of it - intelligently - with the developing world.