House debates

Thursday, 19 June 2014

Statements by Members

Australia Post

1:56 pm

Photo of Michael DanbyMichael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

There are proposed changes to the way Australia Post will deliver our post—proposals that would cut the post down to three days per week. If one is examining the nature of Australia Post these days, it is not simply a matter of the parcel service being successful and the letter service not being successful. There are 485 executives of Australia Post earning more than a backbench member of parliament—more than $200,000. That is more than three parliamentsful of executives earning more than $200,000. This might be a way for the average old lady in Manangatang who wants her postage to continue five or six days a week to receive cost cutting from Australia Post rather than cutting back the post to a two- or three-day service.

The great Australian postal workers who deliver our post are also delivering large numbers of small parcels. I am not sure of the legitimacy of the claim that the postal service's letter delivery service is not helpful in delivering large amounts of small parcels that are being organised by eBay these days. I think there is another way of going about Australia Post as an organisation.