Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to object to the lies and the mistruths that have emerged out of Australia Post's senior management that have affected their workforce. People have been genuinely worried about their jobs as a result of a very calculated campaign to create a sense of crisis in the organisation, using COVID as a cover to push through changes that have resulted in greater job insecurity and cuts to pay. We've already seen some of that. For example, van drivers have lost one week of annual leave and traditional take-home pay with some of the Sunday overtime that's been removed, meaning that mail is piling up. We've had posties who have been working their guts out for less, with cuts to their overtime impacting on their take-home pay.

There were all these suggestions that posties weren't able to do a whole range of things because so many parcels are coming in now—that the bulk of the work being done by posties involves delivering parcels. But, all of a sudden, in the space of a few months, we've gone from a crisis in the organisation to having the head of Australia Post, in the Financial Review last week, saying 'every day is like Christmas' at Australia Post. They have used spin and lies to create a climate that would allow them to cut jobs and to cut pay, and they should be held accountable for it. The Australian public deserves much better.