Bonuses despite the snail mail

AUSTRALIA Post’s eight executives shared in bonuses totalling a whopping $4.8m last year after the governmentowned business suspended their incentives at the start of the pandemic.

Hundreds of other staff on six-figure salaries also raked in incentives worth $79m in 2020-21, taking Australia Post’s bonus bill to $171m in the two financial years covering the Covid crisis.

While households and businesses have faced frustrating delivery delays, with parcel collections briefly suspended in recent weeks, Australia Post chair Lucie Di Bartolomeo said the bonuses were justified based on performance “in a very challenging operating environment”.

Australia Post’s spending has been under intense scrutiny and former chief executive Christine Holgate forced out of the top job last year amid a political firestorm over her decision to reward several workers with Cartier watches.

The organisation’s 2020-21 annual report confirmed she received a $1m payout.

Rodney Boys, who filled in as the acting chief executive after Ms Holgate’s departure, received a base salary of $1.1m and a bonus of $730,438.