Rita Panahi: Why Australia Post can’t justify its CEO’s $5.6m salary

WITH a service that is slow, expensive and unreliable, it’s no wonder Australia Post tried to conceal details of their CEO’s gargantuan salary, writes Rita Panahi.

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NO WONDER Australia Post tried to conceal details of their CEO’s gargantuan salary.

Ahmed Fahour was paid an astonishing $5.6 million in 2016 but his salary was not included in Australia Post’s annual report.

It is routine for companies to include details of the CEO’s salary in their annual report but Australia Post stopped doing that in 2014 when Fahour’s salary hit $4.6 million.

Last year a further five Australia Post executives were paid $1.3 to $1.8 million.

Australia Post initially declined to reveal the information, arguing that individuals to which the information relates “may become targets for unwarranted media attention”.

“The public disclosure of executive remuneration would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information,” Australia Post corporate secretary Erin Kelly wrote to a Senate Committee.

Australia Post managing director and CEO Ahmed Fahour. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

If full disclosure is good enough for the private sector, then it’s good enough for Fahour and his well-remunerated underlings.

As Australia’s highest paid public servant, Fahour is receiving a salary that dwarfs that of the Prime Minister and most private sector CEOs.

It would be hard to justify Fahour’s gargantuan salary — even if Australia Post was performing at an optimum level — but sadly the organisation is a shadow of its former self in terms of service quality.

Fahour is being richly rewarded for overseeing an organisation where service levels are plummeting while costs continue to rise.

Speak to regular Australia Post customers and they complain about a service that is slow, expensive and unreliable.

Letters arrive weeks after being sent and parcels are routinely not delivered, even when the recipient is home. Instead, a note is left requiring the recipient to travel to the nearest post office to collect their package.

A recent survey by Choice highlighted the extent of the problem for consumers.

Fahour’s salary is more than 10 times the $507,338 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is paid. Picture: Kym Smith

Among a plethora of problems, Choice found that a quarter of parcel-receiving customers had experienced “a failure to attempt delivery” with a similar number experiencing an unreasonable delay in delivery.

Choice concluded that: “figures this high are unlikely to be explained by ‘rogue’ posties and point to a more systemic explanation”.

Prime Minister Turnbull is right to be critical of Fahour’s obscene salary and has spoken to Australia Post chairman John Stanhope about his concerns.

“I say this as someone who spent most of his life in the business world before I came into politics — I think that is a very big salary for that job.”

As well as an overgenerous salary package Fahour received an Australia Day honour this year. He was appointed as an Officer of the order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to business. So, essentially Fahour received a much coveted honour for doing his job.

And Fahour’s $5.6 million salary is all the more absurd when you compare it to those performing similar roles in other countries.

Postmaster General and CEO of the US Postal Service Megan Brennan earns US$415,291 ($543,616 AUD).

How can the head of the US postal service make a fraction of Fahour’s salary when she is overseeing an operation that employs 617,000 people delivering mail to around 320 million Americans?

Australia Post must explain why Fahour and his executive team are worthy of such exorbitant salaries that continue to grow at a rapid pace.

— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @RitaPanahi or read her blog.