Senate debates

Thursday, 2 March 2006

Questions without Notice

Australia Post

2:22 pm

Photo of Stephen ConroyStephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I again refer the minister to Australia Post’s plans to hit pensioners with new fees for mail redirection services. Can the minister confirm the advice given to concession card holders by Australia Post’s Customer Network and Liaison Manager, Mr Doug Hawkins, that all relevant federal government departments were advised of the decision? Why did the minister fail to stand up for pensioners and veterans when she was informed of Australia Post’s plan? Does the minister think that it is fair that Australia’s pensioners should be hit with fees worth up to $5.7 million to have their mail redirected when Australia Post has just achieved a record profit of $374 million?

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

Had I not been drowned out yesterday, I could have provided all of this information to the Senate. It got to the point where nobody was interested in listening. Hopefully, if today they are, I will provide the information. The situation, as I started to say yesterday, is that Australia Post is a government business enterprise and is responsible for its own commercial and management decisions and, of course, it is required to operate in a commercial manner. The government’s role is to set postal policy, as it is in telecommunications, including in relation to setting regulations and community service obligations and ensuring that Australia Post adheres to its legislated requirements. And, historically, as I also started to say yesterday, Australia Post has absorbed the cost of providing mail redirection and mail-holding services to pensioners.

Photo of Stephen ConroyStephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

Why have you allowed them to change the policy?

Photo of Paul CalvertPaul Calvert (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Order, Senator Conroy!

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

These services were intended to provide a temporary solution for customers who may be moving from one address to another or who are absent from their homes for a short period. Australia Post reports that, over time, the usage of these services has grown significantly. In turn, the costs incurred by Australia Post in providing these free services have increased to approximately $5.7 million a year. Australia Post has also noted that there are many instances where the mail redirection service is not being used as the temporary measure it was designed to be, with some customers continuously using the service for two to five years.

Under the new arrangements, for all applications lodged by eligible concession holders from 22 May 2006, pensioners will be charged a concessional rate for mail redirection and mail-holding services. The concessional rate will be a 50 per cent discount off the current private household charge. This is equivalent to a charge for pensioners of less than 20c a day to have their mail redirected by Australia Post for a month. The new concession rate of 50 per cent is a substantial discount on normal rates and is consistent with pensioner concession arrangements for many other organisations. Australia Post has advised that it will continue to honour, at no charge, existing mail redirection—

Photo of Joe LudwigJoe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

How much are you slugging the pensioners?

Photo of Paul CalvertPaul Calvert (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Order, Senator Ludwig!

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

or mail-holding services until the end of the current active period of service. Existing concession users of the mail redirection service have been notified.

Photo of Stephen ConroyStephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

Senator Conroy interjecting

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, could I take a point of order, please? Senator Conroy has asked me a question. I am providing relevant evidence of the fact that the premises in his question are wrong.

Opposition Senator:

Opposition senator interjecting

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

That is my job in question time. It would certainly well behove Senator Conroy to listen to the answer.

Photo of Chris EvansChris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. This is the first time, that I know of, of a minister taking a point of order on her own contribution, so I am not sure of the standing orders governing that. I think the point of order should have been on relevance, because clearly she has again failed to answer the question. If she wants to read her briefs, she can do it in the privacy of her own office, but coming into the Senate and reading whatever brief she finds first is not answering the question.

Photo of Paul CalvertPaul Calvert (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! There is no point of order. The minister has over a minute left to answer the question. As to what happened yesterday, if any senator is going to ask a question, the least they could do is give the minister an opportunity to answer it.

Opposition Senator:

Opposition senator interjecting

Photo of Paul CalvertPaul Calvert (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, but there have been too many interjections. I have said today that there are too many interjections from my left and I ask you to come to order.

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

I was saying—and this is relevant information for those wanting to know this—that existing concession users of the mail redirection service were notified in February 2006, three months in advance of the changes to the fee structure. In addition, existing users are being invited to renew for up to a further 12 months free of charge so that they have time to update their address details with their correspondents before choosing to incur any charge on a redirection service. Customers who in future prefer not to pay for a mail redirection or a mail-holding service still have a number of options. I am sure I will get a supplementary question, and I will be very pleased to go into those options when Senator Conroy asks a supplementary question.

Photo of Stephen ConroyStephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. In light of the government’s decision to allow Telstra to increase phone connection charges by 43 per cent and Australia Post to gouge millions of dollars in new fees, can the minister explain why the Howard government has decided to abandon pensioners? Will the minister now accept that the government’s communications regulations have failed to protect low-income Australians? Why is the minister allowing the two biggest companies in her portfolio to bolster their profits by targeting Australian pensioners?

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

I think it is very important to be able to outline for those who do have an interest in this question the fact that there were some further options for customers who in future would prefer not to pay for a mail redirection: they can simply update their address details with their correspondents before they move, arrange to have their mail collected or, indeed, have it sent on by the occupants of previous addresses. The important thing to understand about this—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting

Photo of Helen CoonanHelen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. There is really not much point in me trying to provide any further information. The Labor Party are not interested because they do not care about telecommunication services or postal services. They do not care about anything other than branch stacking. Senator Conroy, of course, is the absolute prime offender. He should go back to his day job of branch stacking and leave telecommunications to someone who is interested in it. (Time expired)