ANDREW Hirst is determined to keep Beresfield post office afloat. He'll sell his family home if he has to.
Mr Hirst won a David and Goliath battle against Australia Post last week when a Senate inquiry, which he helped trigger, defended the role of suburban post office licensees and their right to make a decent living.
But now he hopes the federal government will implement the 18 recommendations from the inquiry, including an examination of costs and services delivered through post offices so they best meet the needs of the community.
After taking on the Beresfield post office licence 14 years ago, Mr Hirst is still only earning about $50,000 a year and working between 65 and 70 hours a week.
His financial difficulties and the similar plight of licensees across Australia led him to help form the Licensed Post Office Group and become its deputy chair to fight for a fair go.
"If we didn't do something then the entire network of licensed post offices across the country would collapse," Mr Hirst said. "I rely on my wife who works permanent night shift so I can keep helping the community.
"Now [if] I have to sell a home that I love to keep the Beresfield Post Office opened, I'll do that."
Post office licensees are paid fees out of the set postage rates but there have been only five increases in the past 15 years – including the addition of the GST – which has made it tough to meet the rising costs of running their businesses.
The parcel fee, for example, was 51¢ but the work the licensee had to do with the parcel actually cost them $3, Mr Hirst said.
The same applies to post boxes. Customers pay $112 a year but Mr Hirst only sees $67 of that, the rest goes to Australia Post.
More than 840 letters from post office licensees complaining about their plight were received in the early days of the inquiry in December.
But Australia Post is yet to admit there is a problem.
In a statement, Australia Post said it was reviewing the inquiry’s recommendations. It said it recognised that licensees were an important part of its network and that it had introduced a series of initiatives worth $40million to boost the viability of being a licensee, including the introduction of additional services.
But Mr Hirst said these new services were first rolled out at corporate post offices such as Raymond Terrace, Maitland, Jesmond, Charlestown and Mayfield – ones owned by Australia Post.
“By the time we get them, people are already using the corporate post office so they don’t come to us for those services,” he said.
Australia Post reported an annual profit of $116.2million last financial year, down 34.5per cent, and revealed its letter delivery service was losing money.
Chief executive Ahmed Fahour earned $4.8million the year before.
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon has joined independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon and Queensland LNP senator Barry O’Sullivan in calling on the federal government to respond to the inquiry’s recommendations as a matter of urgency.
Ms Claydon said she would continue to “put pressure on the government to make a response”.
‘‘[The] closure of post offices affected entire communities,” she said.
Mr Hirst said licensees could not survive unless the government implemented the recommendations handed down last week.
These include examining how costs are allocated and reviewing the community service obligations that licensees must fulfil.
Source: Newcastle Herald
