Christine Holgate breaks silence on Australia Post ousting

Christine Holgate comes out swinging in her first comments since quitting as Australia Post chief executive.

‘I was treated like a criminal,’ says former Australia Post executive Christine Holgate. Picture: Julian Kingma

Christine Holgate has accused Australia Post chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo of lying to parliament and “humiliating” her in the former chief executive’s first comments since being dumped for rewarding senior managers with Cartier watches.

Ms Holgate, who left the company in November after disclosing she had spent $19,950 to buy luxury watches as bonuses for four managers, described the time before her departure as “the most harrowing 10 days of my career”.

In a submission to a Senate inquiry into the scandal, the former Australia Post executive said the board should be cleared out. She also accused Mr Di Bartolomeo of treating her “like a criminal” and “illegally forcing her to resign”.

“The chair of Australia Post not only unlawfully stood me down, he lied repeatedly to the Australian people and to their parliament about his actions,” Ms Holgate wrote in a 151-page note.

“The experience the chair of Australia Post and others put me through — which continues — should never be allowed to happen again, not just at Australia Post but in any organisation, to any person, in any role.”

Ms Holgate said she never agreed to stand aside on October 22, when the watch purchases were disclosed, and had instead offered to take annual leave.

Mr Di Bartolomeo issued a statement that evening saying Ms Holgate would stand aside.

A Finance Department report released in January found that while the board did not consider or approve the watch purchases, there was not enough evidence to know whether Ms Holgate had told former chairman John Stanhope about the arrangement.

Australia Post chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo at Parliament House in Canberra last month. Picture: Getty Images

The report found no evidence of “dishonesty, fraud, corruption or intentional misuse” of funds.

The watches were given to executives who helped secure a $220m deal to provide financial services on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and the National Australia Bank.

An Australia Post spokesman declined to comment, but the company’s submission to the same Senate inquiry notes that while Ms Holgate “initially resisted the request to stand aside, (she) ultimately agreed she would stand aside from the role … pending the outcome of the investigation and any further action taken by Australia Post”.

But Ms Holgate disputes this. “To this date, I have not received any explanation why I was forced to stand down other than the (Communications) Minister and Prime Minister insisted on it and that in itself does not have legal standing,” she wrote. “Australia Post, like all our nationally significant organisations, should not be a political plaything where board positions are used as rewards for political services done.”

 

Ms Holgate said the watches were “openly celebrated” and within Australia Post’s gift and remuneration policy, “yet somehow, I was forced out of my job over it. For this, I blame one person — the chair,” she said.

“He knew all of the facts but chose to stand aside from his responsibility to defend me and Australia Post from those who didn’t know all of the facts. He then lied about his actions and about other important issues.”

The political furore over the watch purchases — including demands from Scott Morrison for her resignation — led Ms Holgate “to seek mental health care and medication”.

PM responds to submission

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Morrison said Ms Holgate decided to leave the postal service of her own choosing.

Asked to comment on her submission, Mr Morrison said Ms Holgate had “decided” to leave.

“There was a review that was undertaken into the matters that were brought up by the Senate…. and before that was concluded, Ms Holgate decided to leave Australia Post,” Mr Morrison said.

“That’s just a matter of record and these issues now are between Ms Holgate and Australia Post and I’ll leave that matter for the time being.”

Ms Holgate, in her statement, accused Mr Di Bartolomeo of giving “seriously misleading” evidence to parliament when he said he had not read a review of Australia Post’s business strategy undertaken by the Boston Consulting Group.

“He knows all about the BCG report, despite his lies to the Senate,” she wrote. “He saw drafts of it, he sat in five-hour long meetings about its contents.”

Ms Holgate said she later offered to resign but never signed a deed of release, which she claims would have meant the $7bn government-owned organisation could restrict her from working elsewhere for a year.

Despite Ms Holgate being yet to be officially released from Australia Post, Mr Di Bartolomeo appointed executive search firm Egon Zehnder to recruit her replacement. The search is expected to cost $500,000 and is in its advanced stages.

Ms Holgate said Australia Post’s acting chief executive Rodney Boys “cut off” support to her, despite knowing she was experiencing severe anxiety after her ousting, and the company had released distorted credit card expenses during her time at the organisation, making it appear she had charged it for certain expenses when she had paid for them herself. She said Mr Boys blocked her from writing a farewell note to staff.

Josh Frydenberg says Ms Holgate was “treated appropriately” but acknowledged it would have been personally difficult for her.

“Christine Holgate is a good person, a decent person. Someone I’ve known for some time. She did put out a statement of resignation,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC News.

“I think that she has been treated appropriately in the circumstances where the matters have been raised. But I obviously understand that this has been a very difficult time for her, but also for the organisation.”

Mr Frydenberg on Wednesday said he would not get involved in the stoush and a new Australia Post chief executive would be hired soon.

“I’m not going to get between those differences that she has with the chair of Australia Post, but the board has undertaken an executive search that’s nearing its completion, and they will make an appointment of a new CEO in due course.”

With Richard Ferguson, Olivia Caisley