Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are 49 licensed post offices, or LPOs, in my electorate of Lyons, the largest electorate in the state of Tasmania. They are all country post offices and they have all struggled to survive for the past two decades since licenses were issued to private contractors to run these essential regional small businesses. They have struggled not because of the quality of the service that they provide but rather because of the income available to them and over which they have no control at all. The money from stamp sales is passed back to LPOs by Australia Post and influences a range of other payments that they receive from Australia Post. Since 1993, the cost of stamps simply has not kept pace with inflation. Australians are sending fewer letters by mail, so LPO operators in my neck of the woods have welcomed the proposed reforms to Australia Post, announced this week in parliament by the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull.

Westbury post office proprietor Bob Richardson, with whom I met a couple of weeks ago to discuss these very issues along with my colleague Senator Abetz, suggested that the proposed increase in the price of stamps from 70c to $1 would provide the means, expected to be roughly around $20,000 on average per year to an LPO, to make these country post offices more viable. Total payments from Australia Post for stamps at the moment amount to around $70,000 gross a year, from which the small business then has to deduct all its costs like rent, power, plant and equipment. The increased income is most welcome. Bicheno post office proprietor Subi Mead suggests she recorded a taxable income last year of $40,000 last financial year.

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