Ex-AusPost’s Christine Holgate’s credit card spending laid bare

Itemised credit card data for former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate paints a day-to-day picture of expenses.

As CEO of Australia Post, Christine Holgate’s spending habits were not extravagant for someone in her position, and are likely to fan a widespread view that she was thrown under a bus by ­colleagues. Picture; John Feder/The Australian.

For Christine Holgate, the Cartier brand once synonymous with luxury will forever be spiced with a feeling of dread, after she earned a Prime Ministerial rebuke and lost her job in November for ­rewarding four executives with Cartier watches worth $19,950 in 2018.

However, itemised amounts for two credit cards used by Ms Holgate, released on Monday under Freedom of Information laws, show her spending habits were not extravagant for someone in her position.

Ms Holgate used a card in her own name for direct expenses and an “Office of the CEO” card signed off by the Post chief financial officer for other costs, including those incurred for the board and senior executives.

Headline items in her term from October 1, 2017 to August 31, 2020 include $208,267 charged to the corporate card for private car services, or more than $5000 a month.

Post said Ms Holgate had to travel “safely and securely”, and work in a confidential environment while in transit.

With her personal card, she ­famously paid $34,500 of accommodation for her first nine months in the job at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt — a perk approved by the Remuneration Tribunal.

All of the costs were investigated by law firm Maddocks, which found on Friday in a previously secret government review there was no evidence of fraud or corruption, although the watches were inconsistent with the proper use of public money.

A spokesman for Ms Holgate said on Monday that her work expenses and remuneration were “significantly less than her predecessor [Ahmed Fahour]”.

“It is standard practice and entirely within Australia Post’s policies for farewell gifts to be given to long-serving senior executives and board members, and for ­superior performance to be ­acknowledged with a reward,” he said.

“Australia Post is a government-owned commercial enterprise which competes with massive global private firms such as DHL for talent and customers.

“Recognising and rewarding performance, and long, loyal service, is a staple of commercial management.”

The reference to farewell gifts for long-serving directors brings John Stanhope, chairman of Post for seven years until November 2019, squarely into the picture.

On December 2, 2019, Ms Holgate charged $2095 to her corporate card for a Montblanc pen as a “farewell gift for a board member”.

While the name of the director is redacted, she later reveals in her own commentary on the transactions that the purchase was a “chairman retirement gift”.

Mr Stanhope, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly intended to tell the Maddocks review that the board approved a plan by Ms Holgate for gifts to senior executives, but did not sign off on the watches.

This was despite Mr Stanhope signing a card for the executives, who had helped land a 2018 deal with the major banks to boost ­financial services in post offices.

Like with the Cartier time­pieces, Montblanc items were a preferred gift at Post to reward valued service, with two other staff members receiving pens made by the high-end German company — one costing $590 on August 21, 2019, and the other with a $715 price tag on December 20, 2019. Ms Holgate charged $44,130 to her personal card in the 2018 financial year, $14,673 in 2019, and $29,298 in 2020.

Not surprisingly, the big items were on the other card.

Expenditure spiked from $260,984 in 2018 to $392,833 the following year, before easing back to $287,063 in 2020.

The total amount of $963,955, including a residue in the current financial year, was dominated by $507,462 in domestic and inter­national flights for the board and leadership team.

As Post CEO, Ms Holgate had a taste for fine dining, eating at top Japanese restaurant Kisume in Melbourne several times, including a $1518 farewell meal for two executives in July 2018.

But equally, buried in hundreds of card transactions, is evidence that she often takes lunch on the run.

A quick bite for less than $20 at now-closed cafe In a Rush at Southern Cross Station in ­Melbourne was a regular destination.

On December 14, 2018, in an event for all staff, Ms Holgate charged $9900 to the corporate card for a Christmas carol singer in the foyer of the Post building.

But on March 2, 2018, stranded in Dubai with her luggage delayed, she settled on $112.34 in clothes purchases, keeping the receipts to claim against the company’s insurance.

The overall picture is not one of a high-flying executive flashing an array of plastic cards with ­impunity.