Ahmed Fahour says he hopes Christine Holgate is OK following Australia Post ousting

Ahmed Fahour has urged Australians to remember there is a ‘human being’ running the postal service as the PM doubles down on his treatment of Christine Holgate.

Latitude chief executive Ahmed Fahour. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Former Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour has urged Australians to remember there is a “human being” running the postal service — a job he said was “one of the toughest” in the country — as Prime Minister Scott Morrison doubles down on his treatment of Christine Holgate over the Cartier watch affair.

Speaking out for the first time about his successor, Mr Fahour said he hoped Ms Holgate was “okay” after she revealed she was suicidal and on medication, following Mr Morrison’s demand that she stand aside or “go” last October.

Ms Holgate has accused Mr Morrison of “humiliating” her in parliament, while also saying Australia Post chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo “bullied” her out of her job. Both men have refused to apologise to Ms Holgate.

On Monday, Mr Fahour revealed: “Christine has said publicly that she has some health issues in all of this and I don’t care who anybody is, you’ve got to first deal with the human impact here.

“That’s where my focus and energy is. That’s what I really care about. I hope she (Ms Holgate) is okay. Really at the end of the day because you have to put on a brave face no matter what the circumstances are.”

Mr Fahour, who led Australia Post for almost eight years until early 2017, said running the postal service was “probably one of the toughest CEO jobs in the country”, with its leader facing pressure 24/7.

He said the chief executive of Australia Post not only has to balance meeting the expectations of delivering mail promptly and managing the decline of letters, but also ensuring the business has the capacity to meet a “one in 100-year event” of rising e-commerce and record parcel deliveries.

“It’s not just because of the commercial changes but because every Australian feels like they are a shareholder in that business — and they are,” Mr Fahour said when describing the challenges of the job.

“It’s owned on behalf of the people of Australia via a shareholding by the government. And so therefore the expectation of meeting community service obligations, the massive staff, the massive impact on all the people around them, and also to meet the government’s financial expectations, makes it one of the toughest jobs in the land.

“So when you think about that job, and you think about what’s required to be done, it places an enormous amount of stress, pressure, every single day of the week (on that person) to do their job.

Former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate. Picture: AAP

“And there is a human being running that job. That person is under the pump 24/7.”

Mr Fahour came under a political attack himself before he resigned from Australian Post after his $5.6m pay packet was revealed, leading to then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull branding it as part of a “cult of excess” in regard to executive remuneration.

While Mr Fahour declined to directly comment on how he felt Ms Holgate had been treated — saying it would be “inappropriate for a former CEO” to do so — Mr Turnbull has emerged as one of her biggest supporters.

“The public bullying of Christine Holgate is one of the worst episodes of brutish misogyny I have seen in politics,” Mr Turnbull wrote on Twitter.

“The PM should apologise, Australia Post should do the same and Holgate should be reinstated.”

Mr Morrison has refused to apologise to Ms Holgate but said he regretting causing her distress by publicly berating her.

Last October, Mr Morrison said it was “disgraceful” that Ms Holgate had rewarded senior Australia Post executives four Cartier watches worth $20,000 in 2018 for securing a banking deal worth $66m a year — and demanded she stand aside or “go” while the gifts were investigated.

The watches were revealed under questioning from Labor senator Kimberley Kitching at Senate estimates, which oversees Australia Post’s finances and expenditure.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate, I still don’t think it was appropriate,” Mr Morrison said last week when asked about the Cartier watches and if he should apologise to Ms Holgate.

Mr Morrison said Ms Holgate’s claim that she had not used taxpayers‘ money to buy the watches because Australia Post was a “commercial entity” was also inappropriate.

“If it’s a government company, it is taxpayers’ money, and it should be treated with the same level of respect across government organisations as well.”

Ms Holgate has since apologised for making that comment.

Mr Di Bartolomeo also has refused to apologise for Ms Holgate’s treatment. Last week he told a Senate inquiry into Ms Holgate’s ousting: “I don’t believe Australia Post owes her an apology. No”.

“But I do believe she has been badly treated.

“I think the environment that created at the time (Mr Morrison demanded Ms Holgate stand aside), from that afternoon on through parliament and the media thereafter, and lots from everyone else who bought in, certainly created a set of circumstances that made her job and her life very difficult.”