Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister for communications. Does the minister have confidence in the leadership of Australia Post's CEO and its board?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the shadow minister for her question about Australia Post. This has been a very, very busy time for Australia Post, with parcel volumes up by a very high percentage, and, of course, Australia Post has been able to respond, thanks to the temporary registry relief we've provided, by moving 2,000 staff—posties—to being able to deliver parcels so Australians can get their parcels when they need them. With millions of Australians at home, they need their parcels.

That was no thanks to the other side of the House, who tried to stop that sensible change and tried to stop many other sensible changes, but we're getting on and making sure that Australia Post—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On direct relevance: the question asked specifically about confidence in the CEO and the board, nothing else.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House on the point of order?

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, surely that is relevant to the point as to how Australia Post is performing? The two things must be intimately related?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do have to—

A government member interjecting—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why did you say 'yes' before if that's the case?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why doesn't the member for Sydney cease interjecting?

A government member interjecting—

That's a good idea. I take the point of order. It was a specific question but, in how the minister was relating the material to it, I believe he was answering it, right until the point at which the Manager of Opposition Business jumped up. I thought the reason you were jumping up was that he was going to alternative policies, so I'm going to say to him now: you can't do that. But he's not compelled, as the Practice makes clear, to simply answer a question with 'yes' or 'no'. I know that's what the questioner would like, but that is not how our system works, and if people wanted it to work that way I'd have to change the standing orders. What he says, as the Leader of the House pointed out, is in fact being relevant and answering the question.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Speaker for the opportunity to continue to address the question that is of importance to all Australians, which is: what would we expect of Australia Post at this very challenging time? What would we expect of Australia Post's board and management at this challenging time? What we'd expect them to do is to be able to respond to a difficult set of business circumstances, where essentially overnight they've faced challenges like most of the scheduled airline services in Australia ceasing. Australia Post use scheduled airline services, in normal times, to deliver parcels and letters all around the country. So what have they done? They have chartered more than 10 aircraft, which are flying around the country to keep Australians served. They've dealt with the challenge. Because of the heavy handed lockdown in Melbourne, all of a sudden there were very intense restrictions on the number who could be employed in the sorting centres. That had an impact not only on services in Victoria but around Australia, because the core of their sorting operations is in Victoria.

These are the kinds of business and operational questions you would expect a capable board and management to deal with, and that is what they've been focused on. We've seen revenue of $7.5 billion this year. We've also seen a very sharp increase in the volume of parcels being delivered, as Australians at home, in their millions, have resorted to ecommerce. Australia Post has a very large market share when it comes to delivering parcels.

In terms of their response to the demand for parcels and the adjustments they're making so that staff can be redeployed to the areas of growth—a very sensible proposition which was put forward by the Australia Post board and management and which the government had no hesitation in supporting—I think we can say that Australia Post is dealing with a difficult set of challenges. In doing that, they have responded well to meeting the needs of Australians. All of us can ask: do we have confidence in the board and management of Australia Post? We on this side of the House say—what a radical proposition!—'Let's judge them by the quality of the services and the outcomes of their delivery.' That's what we do on this side of the House.