POSTAL CHANGES DOING CUSTOMERS NO FAVOURS

DURING this COVID era Australia Post has sought and been granted temporary changes from the government regarding its community service obligations. Among the changes are the frequency of letter delivery from daily to every second day.

However, Geelong is not a metropolitan area and the changes granted are specifically for metro areas only. This simple fact has been overlooked and not challenged.

In an era when people are more distances and isolated, the frequency of mail is one of those things that should not be tampered with, especially for our elderly folk.

For more than 200 years, Australia Post in its various guises and forerunners has served Australian cities, towns and remote areas. It is a wholly-owned business enterprise of government and directly under the control of the Department of Communications.

In the 2020 financial year it posted a record $7.56bn of revenue, yet the community service obligations are being diluted at the expense of citizens. Alongside this result, Australia Post paid the government a $21m dividend.

Let’s not forget that the increase in the bottom line also increases bonuses to highly-paid executives and senior staff. Mind you, it was only three years ago when the previous CEO Ahmed Fahour had a salary package of $6.8m after sacking 900 staff.

The post office model with its restricted hours of operation has not kept pace with the times and the ever-increasing postage costs are a further deterrent.

Australia Post’s mantra is “to always deliver great service and value to our customers and the community”. Does this ring true?

Fortunately, Geelong is not a metro city (otherwise we would have been in Stage 2 COVID restrictions) and we deserve better from Australia Post for our postal services.

George Ballas OAM, Geelong