The PR Blog

When a lifetime isn’t enough to be believed

I know a person...  in her older years. She has a smartphone. She knows how to use it, She tries to keep up with the modern world..even when it changes faster than her knees can carry her. She can type faster than me and while she is drop dead gorgeous in my eyes, you can tell she is not 18 anymore. 

She’s not stubborn. She’s not lost in the past.She’s just… older.

And this week, standing at her front door, she was asked to prove how old she was. Yes, by a delivery driver from the local adult beverage shop...... with a bottle of Irish whiskey I had ordered for her. What happened next was shocking. Welcome to E- Australia...

She showed her passport. She showed her drivers license. But, because they have both expired, the driver would not deliver because she didn't have valid ID. 

Yes, she was told:

“I can’t give it to you unless you have valid photo ID.”

No VALID passport. She hasn’t travelled in years. No VALID driver’s licence. She gave that up when she knew it was time. She had the smartphone. She had the order confirmation. She had the history.
But none of that counted. Her PASSPORT HAD EXPIRED AND HER LICENSE HAD EXPIRED AND SO HAD SHE.

So the bottle went back. And she saw the truth.

For the first time in her life, she felt as if she no longer existed.

This is how Australia is erasing its elders. Its REAL ELDERS.

Not through violence or scandal. But through cold systems that ask our oldest citizens to prove, again,that they belong.

She has lived through war, ration books, blackouts, storms, fires. floods, grief, and all done with grace. She’s buried friends, helped neighbours, fed generations. She was the person everyone came to for advice, support, a warm jumper, or a cup of tea.And they still do. 

But in this new world, none of that is proof enough.

You know what makes it worse? The barefoot bastard who delivered it actually said it was delivered.  The weird thing is that this sneaky weasel got away with it. He took the photo and then  said " Yeah nah. "

She was told that her life didn’t count unless it could be backed by plastic.

A passport. A driver’s licence.A thing she hasn’t needed in years, but is now required to have, just to receive a bottle at her door.

And what’s worse? She had done everything right.

Banned. Not because she made a mistake.But because she is old.

Since when is a life not proof enough?

This wasn’t about alcohol. It wasn’t about risk. It was about recognition. And that’s what she was denied. She wasn’t confused. She was humiliated.

She shouldn’t have to stand on her doorstep and beg to be believed.

What has Australia become? 

What has caused me to ponder is the word VALID. 

And that word - “valid” - keeps echoing.

“Legally binding, due to having been executed in compliance with the law.”
(Oxford Dictionary)

Her passport was executed under law. Her licence earned under law. So what exactly has changed -  other than her age?

So this beggars the question:  the passport and drivers license were executed in accordance with law. Is this just another way of silencing the lambs? 

Invalid. That’s what the system called her. Not her opinions, not her history, not her soul -  just her proof of identity.

One day she was sharp as a tack, with a smartphone and a sense of humour that could put a footy crowd in stitches. The next day, she was invalid.
Not because she changed -  but because her driver’s license expired, and her passport had gathered too much dust.

It wasn’t the bottle of Irish whiskey that mattered. It was what the moment revealed: That in modern Australia, your rights don’t come from a life well lived....they come from a piece of plastic that hasn’t expired.

And when it does?

You don’t just lose your whiskey. You lose your voice.

This isn’t just a delivery issue. It’s part of a broader, quiet pattern:

• Banks closing branches in regional towns, telling pensioners to “just use the app.”

• MyGov services asking for six-digit codes sent to smartphones many don’t own.

• And now, they can’t even be trusted with a bottle of Irish whiskey.

This is not how a just society behaves.

We’re not asking for loopholes. We’re not asking for handouts.

We’re asking for recognition... of the quiet citizens who kept this country going when it was their turn.

Because something deeply wrong is happening when the very generation who carried us through war, recession, family loss, and social change is now told:

“You no longer qualify.”

This is not about inconvenience.This is about dignity. About being treated as valid, not invalid, even when your paperwork says “expired.”

She has already lived the kind of life that is its own verification. And so, the real question for us is this:

If that’s not proof enough - what is?