Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My grandfather worked for the Postmaster-General's office and Australia Post for 48 years. When he finished his career, he was the postmaster at Mascot in our community. He was a life member and NSW branch secretary of his union, the Australian Postmasters Association, and a proud postie, who worked his whole working life for the Australia Post all over NSW. My grandfather would be rolling in his grave if he heard what this government is trying to do to Australia Post and its hardworking staff.

Australia Post is being undermined, coast to coast. The Morrison government's proposed regulations for this vital national institution means that Australia Post can essentially scale back services, slash jobs and cut wages, and it's not on. It's a cheap shot on workers and a reduction in an important service for our community. The changes will leave the jobs of up to one in four posties in limbo as well as many other indirect jobs, and it could mean that Australians will have to wait even longer for their mail through this alternating delivery model. People in regional areas already wait longer than those in cities for their mail, and these changes will push out those wait times even further.

Australia Post is an essential service that is part of our lives on an ongoing basis, particularly for older Australians who rely heavily on the postal service, yet this government has given no consideration to those in our community who aren't using new technology as much as others. These regulations will undermine an important part of the fabric of our society, and, of course, there was no consultation on these massive changes before they were announced and there was no opportunity to examine their merits. The government claims that these regulations are a temporary response to COVID-19, but they've given no guarantees that the changes won't be made permanent after coronavirus passes. If Australia Post and the Morrison government wanted to make the case for change, they should have fronted up and given an honest account of their plans. Instead, they've chosen to hide behind COVID-19 in the hope that no-one would notice temporary changes and the workforce impact would become irreversible after July 2021.

They say that it's all about increasing consumer demand for parcel deliveries, but the parcel boom is an opportunity to preserve and create jobs—not cut them. What is this government doing? If parcels are booming, then why are Australia Post talking about redundancies for their workforce? It simply does not make sense. Labor will move to disallow this regulation in the Senate. We believe we should have better postal services in Australia, not cuts to jobs and not cuts to Australia's postal services.