Insight Producer/Reporter Amy Laging recounts the hoops she had to jump through to gain her APEC accreditation.
Time for a confession: part of me experienced an exhilarating thrill at the idea of undergoing an ASIO background check as part of my APEC media accreditation.
Externally I waved it off nonchalantly of course, casually dropping it into conversations and pretending not to notice my companions’ eyes widen with newfound awe and respect for the hard-nosed, world-weary journo in their midst.
I briefly fretted that the hardworking folks at ASIO would find something damning about my background before remembering that by and large my life has been a Groundhog Day loop of sensible early nights and paying bills on time.
Well … there was the time that I ran away from a teaching job in South Korea in the middle of the night, but that’s another story.
The ASIO background check was just one part of the long process journalists had to undergo in order to get the green-light to cover the APEC conference in Sydney.
Step 1 was several pages of questionnaire to be filled out online.
Step 2 was an even longer printed questionnaire, which in one part required the applicant to list every single address they have lived in over the last decade – including the dates they lived there. A daunting prospect for a Bedouin such as me.
I had to attach a separate loose-leaf page to cover all my previous abodes, from Broken Hill to Hong Kong, including shabby share houses that were better left forgotten.
Step 3 required certified photocopies of several identification documents and a signed copy of a passport photo of yours truly looking suitably sober and serious. Done.
It wasn't until the last page that I noticed the stern warning: applications are to be filled out in black pen only. Black? I’d used blue! Now I was fearful. It was back to the drawing board …
Time for a confession: part of me experienced an exhilarating thrill at the idea of undergoing an ASIO background check as part of my APEC media accreditation.
Externally I waved it off nonchalantly of course, casually dropping it into conversations and pretending not to notice my companions’ eyes widen with newfound awe and respect for the hard-nosed, world-weary journo in their midst.
I briefly fretted that the hardworking folks at ASIO would find something damning about my background before remembering that by and large my life has been a Groundhog Day loop of sensible early nights and paying bills on time.
Well … there was the time that I ran away from a teaching job in South Korea in the middle of the night, but that’s another story.
The ASIO background check was just one part of the long process journalists had to undergo in order to get the green-light to cover the APEC conference in Sydney.
Step 1 was several pages of questionnaire to be filled out online.
Step 2 was an even longer printed questionnaire, which in one part required the applicant to list every single address they have lived in over the last decade – including the dates they lived there. A daunting prospect for a Bedouin such as me.
I had to attach a separate loose-leaf page to cover all my previous abodes, from Broken Hill to Hong Kong, including shabby share houses that were better left forgotten.
Step 3 required certified photocopies of several identification documents and a signed copy of a passport photo of yours truly looking suitably sober and serious. Done.
It wasn't until the last page that I noticed the stern warning: applications are to be filled out in black pen only. Black? I’d used blue! Now I was fearful. It was back to the drawing board …
