Labor concerned by Australia Post changes

Labor is concerned the Morrison government used the COVID-19 pandemic to bypass consultation and scrutiny when it granted Australia Post relief from its community service obligations.

Changes have been requested to enable Australia Post to continue to offer important community services and remain sustainable for the future.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland is concerned the Morrison government used the COVID-19 pandemic to bypass consultation and scrutiny when it granted Australia Post temporary relief from community service obligations.

The Australian understands shadow cabinet will discuss the temporary measures when it meets on Tuesday.

Of particular concern is the lack of consultation from the government and Australian Post about the temporary measures and how it will affect the organisation’s workforce long-term.

The government granted Australia Post a temporary suspension from its community service obligations in April, allowing it to deliver letters every second business day, instead of daily, in metropolitan areas and to push out delivery times on interstate routes, citing coronavirus restrictions and reduced demand for ­letters. The postal service also withdrew its more expensive priority mail product and removed its next-day delivery guarantee for Express Post.

Ms Rowland has not commented publicly about the changes, but The Australian understands she has been gathering as much information as possible about the changes, believing there have been inconsistencies, and the surge in online shopping, ­fuelled by the coronavirus lockdown, could create an opportunity to preserve and create jobs. Australia Post has worked well with its workforce, unions and other stakeholders in the past decade, achieving consensus on major reforms such as two-speed mail, which former chief executive Ahmed Fahour introduced in January 2016.

The Australian understands Ms Rowland is looking to achieve similar consensus over the reforms and is concerned there hasn’t been an opportunity to scrutinise alternative options.

Australia Post issued a statement on Monday afternoon, responding to “false claims regarding proposed changes”.

“As announced in April, to remain sustainable Australia Post will soon temporarily implement an alternative delivery model (ADM) in metropolitan areas, where letters will be delivered every second business day,” the statement said.

“This change will allow us to retrain and redeploy some posties to where we need them most, parcel processing and delivery. Our services to Rural and Regional Australia will not be impacted and deliveries to a PO Box will remain the same. Unfortunately, some people are speculating what this change will mean, including forcing the cuts of jobs, pay and ­services.”

Australia Post added: “no ­postie that is directly impacted by the implementation of the ADM will be forced to accept a redundancy”.

“Australia Post also has no plans to cut posties’ take-home pay.

“These changes have been requested to enable Australia Post to continue to offer important community services and remain sustainable for the future.

“Any changes to our employee working arrangements will be made in accordance with existing obligations, including enterprise agreements and we are committed to continue to consult closely with employee representatives on proposed changes.”