Covid is nice excuse for them to not work and sydney office is reputed for long delays in terms of paper application before covid as well. Forget 2020 my friend and plan for 2021. Paper applicants are sons of lesser God.What i don't understand is, if a very few of them are working on paper based applications, what others are doing.. I see no study permit or work permit application are moving either, Citizenship is not moving too. What they are prioritizing only EE. Either all of them are working on EE or most of them are getting paid without working for Covid -19? Come on. If a application is already entered in their system, They need a computer, two monitors and VPN connection to work.. what a nonsense... We work from home everyday.. It is been 5 months now..
Besides you get generic emails and mostly rude agents at call center. The agents at call center will try their best to not help you.