MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY

LETTER COLLAPSE NARRATIVE USED TO JUSTIFY POSTAL REGULATIONS EXPOSED AS A HOAX

The Government’s own figures have today shown they deliberately deceived Australians with misleading statistics when ramming through their “temporary COVID-19” postal regulations.

Addressed letter volumes did not “collapse” in March or April 2020. Volumes were in line with forecasts, and possibly ahead.
 
On the day the Government announced its decision to cut service standards, the CEO claimed addressed letter volumes had collapsed by 50 per cent.
 
This was the justification for cutting delivery frequency in half, putting the jobs of one in four posties in limbo and many indirect jobs at risk.
 
It has also been revealed the request for change was made on 31 March and letter volumes in March were an estimated four per cent above trend.
 
In other words, the seven per cent decline in March 2020 was in fact beating or in line with the internally budgeted pre-COVID forecasts.
 
“It was not addressed letter volumes that collapsed during COVID-19 but the integrity of the Morrison Government’s rationale for these changes”, Ms Rowland said.
 
“The Morrison Government has tried to use a health pandemic to bypass consultation and ram through an agenda that cuts services and cut jobs.”
 
“This is an unacceptable breach of trust with the community and a cheap shot on the workers of Australia Post. The Parliament must call this out for what it is.”
 
If the fundamental starting point for these regulations was based on a hoax – how can we trust anything the Government says?
 
MONDAY, 15 JUNE 2020