Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, upon notice, on 30 May 2012:

(1) Given that the Post Office licensee has been informed that there will be a number of changes to the license agreement and that one of these changes is to reduce the counter mail delivery:

(a) does Australia Post intend to restrict counter mail deliveries at the Post Office; if so, will the counter mail deliveries be restricted to just 752 mail recipients; if not, what amount of counter mail deliveries will be delivered;

(b) how many people rely on this means of delivery to receive their mail;

(c) is the figure of a minimum of 4 400 recipients correct; if not, why not;

(d) where and how was this figure determined;

(e) when the new counter mail delivery measure has been put in place: (i) what will happen to the balance of the deliveries, and (ii) how will Australia Post service those residents in the future;

(f) will the number of Post Office box leases be expanded; and

(g) (i) what process was used to determine which residents would be eligible for this service and which residents would not, and (ii) who made this decision.

(2) Given that the Post Office licensee has been informed that Australia Post intends to restrict delivery to one delivery point per area:

(a) is it true that there will be a restriction on delivery points for the Lightning Ridge region; if so, what will be the restriction;

(b) how many delivery points will be cut in this review;

(c) is it correct that Australia Post will only pay for one delivery point for each area, such as Simms Hill, despite the fact that upwards of 200 people may live in that area and that the remaining 199 people will need to use a Post Office box or have their mail returned to sender;

(d) what delivery points other than Simms Hill will be affected; and

(e) who will identify the delivery point to be serviced and who will identify the 199 people that will no longer be serviced and will have to take up the option of delivery to a Post Office box at extra expense.

(3) Does Australia Post have a community service obligation to provide mail services that are reasonably accessible to all Australians wherever they reside; if so, how does Australia Post justify the actions being proposed in Lightning Ridge.

(4) Is Australia Post refusing to accept Lightning Ridge residential addresses as verified, despite the fact that they are valid local addresses, well known by the community.

(5) Is Australia Post also stating that incorrectly addressed Post Office box mail, where the Post Office manager/owner knows that street address, now cannot be redirected and must be returned to sender.

(6) Does Australia Post intend that all mail for a Post Office box holder, not correctly addressed to a Post Office box, be returned to sender; if so:

(a) (i) is the Post Office currently paid a mail service payment to help manage this mail, and (ii) does Australia Post intend to remove this payment;

(b) does Australia Post uphold this policy and send its own mail to their clients' PO box and not to their home address in areas where this policy is stipulated; and

(c) how will the senders of mail to these recipients know to address the mail to a PO box and not a home address.

(7) Given that the Post Office has been informed of new arrangements for mail sorting:

(a) does Australia Post intend to change the rate of the outward mail processing fee in Lightning Ridge by demanding that all mail for the local community leave the Post Office and be transported to the nearest delivery centre for sorting before being transported back to that Post Office and then have staff from that Post Office unload the mail from the delivery truck that has now been sorted at the local delivery point;

(b) does this mean that the new process for a letter handed over the counter at the Post Office to go to a delivery point just 2 metres from the counter, could take up to 3 days; and

(c) by what measure is this new process more efficient and goes towards providing a more effective mail service.

(8) Does Australia Post intend to remove the telephone subsidy paid to rural licensees; if so:

(a) is this due to the increased cost of rural licensees to contact the network offices, located in major cities, which in the case of Lightning Ridge is now located in Sydney;

(b) if the increased cost is not the reason, why then is the subsidy being removed; and

(c) will Australia Post be breaking its agreement by the removal of this subsidy.

(9) Where the licensee can demonstrate an increase of counter delivery points, do the additional payments for each of those delivery points form part of the agreement made with Australia Post; if not, why not.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows

(1) The Lightning Ridge licensee has not been informed that there will be any changes to their Licensed Post Office (LPO) Agreement. Any changes will occur only on assignment of the licence to a new licensee.

(a) It is intended to conduct a poll of Lightning Ridge town residents this year to determine whether they wish to have a 'to the property' mail delivery. This may have an impact on the number of counter delivery points currently provided from the Lightning Ridge Licensed Post Office.

(b) Based on verified data Australia Post provides an across the counter delivery service to 752 delivery points at Lightning Ridge LPO. Australia Post does not have data on how many people live at these individual delivery points.

(c) Under the LPO Agreement licensees are paid on the number of verified delivery points. The verified figure currently stands at 752.

(d) Please see answer to (c) above.

(e) There is no new counter mail delivery measure being implemented, however as per (a) above residents will shortly be able to choose whether to continue the existing counter delivery service or a 'to the property' delivery by mail contractor.

(f) Australia Post's Post Office Box (POB) service is provided under the LPO Agreement by the licensee. Australia Post is unable to comment on future leasing trends in Lightning Ridge at this stage.

(g) Please see the response to a). Any decision to introduce to the property delivery is based on Australia Post's ability to be able to service these points. In Lightning Ridge's situation this has been determined to be the boundaries of the Lightning Ridge township.

(2) (a) Australia Post is not proposing to alter existing delivery policy other than as described in answer (1) (a). (b) Please see above answer. (c) No, the licensee is being paid as per the LPO Agreement on the basis of verified delivery points.

(d) Please see above response to (c)

(e) Please see above response to (c)

(3) Australia Post's Community Service Obligations are detailed in the Australian Postal Corporation Act, 1989. At present, mail delivery to Lightning Ridge residents is either through counter mail delivery for the opening hours of the post office or the customer may choose to lease a Post Office Box with 24 hours access. Based on customer feedback, Australia Post is now able to conduct a poll of eligible residents in the Lightning Ridge township to determine whether they wish to have a “to the property” delivery. Australia Post is meeting its obligations.

(4) No, all correctly verified addresses are accepted.

(5) All mail received at a Post Office is to be delivered as addressed. The responsibility for ensuring mail is correctly addressed rests with the sender. Should a mail article not be collected or be unable to be delivered, the mail would be returned to sender.

(6) No, mail addressed to a street address that does not receive delivery, assuming no current redirection is in place, would be delivered across the counter or (should street mail delivery be introduced) through the mail contractor.

(a) A mail service payment is paid where Australia Post requires the licensee to undertake mail sorting and acceptance prior to 8am or after 6pm. Or where a critical mail circulation situation applies. It is not paid for mail sorting as other payments such as the mail management fee, Post office box fee and counter mail delivery fee apply to this function. The current mail service payment is not intended to be removed under the existing LPO Agreement.

(b) Please see response to 6 above.

(c) Please see response to 5 above.

(7) (a) There are no changes to existing mail sorting arrangements nor payments at the Lightning Ridge LPO. The payment rate may be varied at the time of assignment.

(b) Please see (a)

(c) Please see (a)

(8) (a) No, where warranted the telephone subsidy to licensees will continue. Over the years however many requirements for a licensee to communicate with Australia Post by telephone have been replaced by a toll free number e.g. EPOS Helpdesk, Stock warehouse, Shared Services Division, Armaguard, IT help Desk.

(b) Where warranted the telephone subsidy will continue to be paid. NB: There is no change to the existing licensee's telephone subsidy.

(c) The subsidy for the existing licensee is not being removed. Upon assignment entitlement to this subsidy is to be reviewed with the new licensee.

(9) As per the LPO Agreement where a counter delivery point listing provided by the licensee can be verified the appropriate payment will be made. Alternatively, under the formula detailed in the LPO Agreement, a mail count to identify the volume of mail would appropriately pay the licensee.