Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the importance of mail delivery services to the people of Corangamite. It is with considerable concern that I note Australia Post's plans to move letter sorting from the Geelong Mail Centre to the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong. The Australian Postal Corporation Act requires Australia Post to meet a number of performance standards under its community service obligations. Regulation 6 of the standards requires that mail lodged in any regional city or town for local delivery within that city or town must be delivered the next day. If this plan goes ahead in its current form, local mail posted in many country towns in my electorate—including Bannockburn, Lorne and Colac—will take at least two days to deliver and will be in breach of this standard. Marking some street posting boxes as local will not cut the mustard. That is because Australia Post does not have the power to exempt any street posting box, or mail lodgement point, as they are known, from its next-day delivery obligation. Country mail services are vital for families, small business owners and farmers. This plan is not in the interests of the people of Corangamite and should be shelved.

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