Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know Australia Post has had its issues, and roadside delivery of our mail to our houses has started to diminish. However, there are constituents in my electorate who don't even receive that service, despite Australia Post now having an increased capacity, because fewer of us are still receiving mail. Mail delivered to our homes is still a vital service, particularly given that many formal documents are still received through the post—for example, rates notices and electricity bills. For a lot of people it is still the way they receive their important mail. Yet the residents of Huntly, in my electorate, do not receive this roadside delivery service. They, despite being a growing suburb of outer Bendigo, are still denied this service. They have approached Australia Post on multiple occasions to ask that they be included and have the opportunity that so many of us have of having the postie deliver their mail to their mailbox.

The process to achieve that is complicated and, in my opinion, ridiculous. First, the residents of Huntly had to put a petition together to say, 'Yes, we want the service.' Now Australia Post is rolling out a postal ballot to the people who live in this area. They will deliver postal ballots and ask people whether they want their mail delivered to their front door. Because most of them don't have mailboxes, it will be dropped off at their front door. What makes it even more complicated is that, if people don't vote, Australia Post assumes it's a no vote. So I am here today encouraging the people of Huntly: if you want to receive mail to your mailbox or to your door, like the rest of us, do vote. Pick up that ballot, fill it in and return it. That is how you will get roadside delivery.

In my opinion, it should just be automatic. When you have regional areas, with the growth corridors like in regional cities and in Bendigo, it should be that, once you get to a threshold, once you get to a level of density, Australia Post just automatically includes these areas for roadside delivery. This is an issue Huntly is going through right now. It is also an issue we will face in Marong, in Lockwood and in other growth areas. Our garbage gets picked up automatically when these houses are built. NBN is delivered to these houses automatically when these houses get built. Why is it that Australia Post are making the residents jump through these hoops just to receive a basic postal service? It is unfair. I encourage the residents of Huntly to vote, I encourage the residents of Marong to get active and I encourage Australia Post to change this procedure.