Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, congratulations on your election to that position. I rise to bring to the House's attention the demise of Australia Post at Montville. With only two weeks notice, Australia Post closed this vital service in this small country town, which services a burgeoning tourism trade. It has left small business and the elderly in the lurch. It is unacceptable what Australia Post has done. It has not met its service obligation to the community. I call upon it to make some facility available there, and also where it has closed operations at Caloundra in this lead-up to the Christmas period.

On a broader note, we need to be aware that important parts of our society, such as local post offices and local pharmacies, are models which are under strain. But they are a very important in providing not only a service but a linkage within society that, if lost, will make ours a weaker society. I encourage all members to seek answers to how we can grow the business for licensees in Australia Post so that we can keep these vital services. Unlike the Labor Party, which decided in the dying days of its government to strip funding from pharmacies, we see pharmacies as an integral part of a functioning society, which fulfil more than a clinical need.