Why your letters could take longer to be delivered

Australia Post announces temporary changes to its postal service.

AUSTRALIA Post has announced temporary changes to its postal service in response to COVID-19 crisis.

A spokeswoman for the corporation said there would temporary changes to letter delivery in metropolitan areas, with letter volumes in May down about 36 per cent on the previous year.

She said the move had been requested to enable important community services to continue, including daily parcel delivery and Express Post delivery, daily letter delivery in rural and regional Australia and all PO Boxes.

"The temporary changes to letter delivery will only happen in metro areas and allow us to redeploy some of our posties to where their help is needed most - in parcel processing and delivery. We will still require posties to deliver letters," the spokeswoman said.

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"The shift to online retail has dramatically increased during COVID, meaning that many Australian consumers and small businesses now rely on Australia Post to get their product to their customers as their main channel of business."

Labor Senator Nita Green said Mackay was set to be among the hardest hit by the changes.

"Under the Morrison Government's plan, mail delivery time frames in regional Queensland will blow out from as few as three business days to seven full days," Ms Green said.

"And across Australia, any areas that currently receive daily postal deliveries will be cut back to every second day.

"At a time of economic uncertainty across regional Australia, now is not the time to be slashing jobs or services in regional areas."

Dawson MP George Christensen has hit back at Ms Green's claims, saying Australia Post was an independent public authority not funded by taxes nor government controlled.

"She also seems unaware that Australia Post have taken these temporary measures to deal with the surge in parcel deliveries because a lot of people have stayed home and ordered online rather than buying in store," Mr Christensen said.

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"Australia Post are urging politicians like Ms Green to support the temporary changes they have made and to stop spreading fake news about posties being sacked."

Australia Post has called on all Members of Parliament and Senators to support the critical role of the service.

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