Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I concur with the comments made by my colleagues Senators Ruston, Urquhart, Whish-Wilson and O'Sullivan. This is an issue that goes beyond politics. The viability of post offices around this country and, in particular, the viability of almost 3,000 licensed post offices is at stake and, with that, a very key part of community infrastructure. We cannot afford to ignore this issue. Furthermore, the government must act on the recommendations made by this committee. These were non-partisan recommendations. This was a unanimous report. I commend the former chair, Senator Williams, and the current chair, Senator Ruston, who did a terrific job in bringing this together. Senator Urquhart from the opposition, Senator Whish-Wilson and Senator O'Sullivan all played very valuable roles in this inquiry. Again, I thank Bozzie, former senator Ron Boswell, for the driving role he played in this.

The recommendations must be implemented. We have in the chamber the finance minister, Senator Cormann, who is the nominal owner of Australia Post on behalf of the government and a shareholder as finance minister. I urge Senator Cormann to read each and every one of the recommendations and to read this report because, if it is not acted on, we are looking at many licensed post offices around the country falling over the edge. If that happens, it will end up costing Australia Post a hell of a lot more to pick up the pieces. There are so many licensed post offices in this country which have been hanging on, some of them by a thread, waiting for this inquiry's recommendations and to see what action the government will take. We cannot and must not let them down.

Pointedly, many LPO operators tell me that they would be happy to work the long hours they are working if only they got the award rate they were paying their employees, because many of them are living at a subsistence level and too many of them are actually selling their assets and eating into their savings just to stay afloat. That is completely unsatisfactory for such an important community service. That is why we need that audit. That is why we need to ensure that there is fair remuneration for those men and women who run the almost 3,000 post offices around the country.

I think it is fair to say that if we do not fix this up there will be huge implications around Australia, particularly in regional communities. There will be huge implications in respect of the community service obligations of Australia Post. I note that the Australia Post management participated in this inquiry. Mr Fahour comes from a distinguished career in banking. He is a very competent man. It is within his wherewithal to fix this by driving the changes that are required. The additional payments that were made, whilst welcome, were just a drop in the bucket because they are not enough to sustain those post offices in a viable way.

I want to comment on the lack of candour and cooperation of POAAL, the official organisation that represents the post office licensees.