Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion as a seconder of the motion put forward by my colleague the member for Ryan, and for very good reasons. I have got many communities in my electorate that do not have a postcode that is allocated to their community. From the far west of my electorate almost on the border of the Northern Territory, the community of Bedourie, the headquarters of the Diamantina Shire, does not have a postcode, yet it is headquarters of a large region of the Diamantina Shire. Its postcode is Rockhampton, based on the Pacific Ocean rim. It is just nonsensical that they could not allocate a postcode in these circumstances to communities like Bedourie. Yowah, west of Cunnamulla, has to share the code with a community 150-200 kilometres away. Why not give them their unique postcode? They have a school and a community centre, they are quite a big centre now. They have mobile phone coverage but they do not have a postcode for delivery of mail. What Australia Post needs to understand is that they serve the people, they have a universal service obligation to serve the people for the delivery of mail. They really need to listen to concerns of members and the community where this is a significant issue.

As a member for Ryan has put it quite well, Benarkin in my electorate and also Blackbutt share a postcode with some other communities up to 130 kilometres apart. For instance, Blackbutt is not geographically located on the edge of Ipswich but that is the postcode that has been allocated. It causes significant problems and costs to that community. Blackbutt is located in the South Burnett region not far from Kingaroy, very near Nanango and Yarraman, which have their own postcodes.

What does it mean for those communities? If you look at Centrelink, Centrelink believes that Blackbutt is a suburb of Ipswich, and that requires residents to travel 130 kilometres to transact Centrelink business in lieu of, say, a 60-kilometre drive up to Kingaroy, which is their nearest Centrelink office in their own region. I have had farmers call me because of some labour situations, such as that holiday backpackers on a special visa are allocated to rural Australia, and after 12 months they can apply for an extension of that if they are in a rural area, as they are. But because their postcode is Ipswich they cannot have that extension on that visa. This disadvantages the farming community, where they have a need for a workforce in horticulture and other activities in the Blackbutt region. Then we have got the issue of insurance. When insurance companies look at the postcode of the people of Blackbutt, and Benarkin for that matter, they say, 'Ah, a suburb of Ipswich.' They then go have a look at the crime issues and say, 'This will be a high risk area,' so people are actually paying a premium for their insurance because of that very postcode that is associated with Ipswich. I take nothing away from the good people of Ipswich but, because their postcode is that of Ipswich, they are charged an additional risk factor and it is costing up to $150 additional each time they get quotes for insurance on a business or a house, on household risk. So it is a disadvantage for these people.

On the issue of crime and drug related issues, Blackbutt is a proud community and they do not want to be associated with other communities that are necessarily in Ipswich's case associated with the greater risk of crime and also drug-related issues in their community. What I am saying and what the motion suggests is that we are calling on the government to request Australia Post to listen to the people and allocate a unique postcode rather than sharing in geographically separate locations. That would not be difficult for Blackbutt. It could be associated with Nanango or Yarraman or even Kingaroy. Nanango is about 60 kilometres away and Yarraman about 20 kilometres. They have their own postcodes: Nanango is 4615 and Yarraman is 4614. Surely it would not be difficult to give them the same postcode as their very near neighbouring communities or even Kingaroy if that would suit them better. But it would certainly mean a lot of lower costs to the community and would mean that the Centrelink issues could be addressed and that those visas applications to extend a holiday visa, a working visa, would be able to be addressed locally. I commend the motion to the House and call Australia Post to act on this very significant issue for many rural communities.

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