Raymond, you ask: "just how likely is it that anyone in employment goes to a WINZ office and then sticks a device into a computer?"

Many people in employment access "WINZ" (who are now called Work & Income) support. Work & Income provide benefits for people in employment that include: the accommodation supplement, childcare support (paid directly to childcare providers if parents earn under a certain amount), and community services cards.

Regardless of the purpose for being there, waiting times at Work & Income are long. Maybe Ira had something he wanted to download onto his USB stick and didn't bring a laptop? Plenty of possible reasons.

Now that I've answered that question, maybe we could all switch our attention off the messenger (where the spin doctors are directing us to look) and back onto the message?