Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to put before the House yet another example of how suburbs in the electorate of Werriwa are not treated equitably. I've been inundated with feedback from residents in Austral, Rossmore and West Hoxton about Australia Post's unwillingness to deliver parcels, sending residents on a 30-kilometre round trip to Ingleburn post office or Smeaton Grange—past closer post offices, I might add. The response that I recently received when I raised concerns with Australia Post was that a delivery attempt was made in the first instance for all these parcels; however, the feedback from my constituents is quite different. One even provided me with a video demonstrating this was not the case. I understand his frustration and that he felt the need to prove his concern. I do acknowledge that Australia Post staff are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances. It is Australia Post management who must provide a work environment that ensures the service standards expected of Australia Post are met.

Chris from Austral told me that there was not even one attempted delivery of his parcel. The Australia Post app showed his parcel was not leaving Ingleburn, so he went there to pick it up. When Chris received his parcel from the post office staff, the parcel was kicked along the ground. There was no trolley offered by staff to help him. Two days later, after he'd already picked up his parcel, he received a missed-delivery card. This is unacceptable. Chris says it best himself: 'It is so important that we have a centralised, publicly owned service to handle what is now an integral part of our economy and day-to-day modern life. However, it's clear something's terribly amiss in Australia Post that they would even allow this to happen, with zero answers to fix the problem.'

What my constituents are also upset about is the lack of infrastructure in place in Austral. New residential homes, parks and trees are still lacking. There'll be 17,000 new dwellings put in Austral soon, and that puts it on par with New South Wales regional cities. Australia Post needs to ensure that a parcel service continues to account for this population growth and to service customers and businesses now. Ms Ismail, from Austral, told me: 'The issue is ongoing and will only become worse as a number of Austral residents rise. Worst of all, they're all paying for postage and for the delivery to their homes.'

All residents deserve fair and easy access to postal deliveries, no matter where they live. I call for more Australia Post outlets in more convenient locations in my electorate to cater for these growing suburbs. Australia Post is an essential government service and my constituents deserve much better.