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Lately, Australian media has been unusually interested in Commonwealth-owned – but privately managed – Australia Post. Well, to be precise, it has been interested in the fate of former AusPost CEO Christine Holgate. As local readers know, last year Holgate was sacked after PM Scott Morrison’s tantrum upon learning that Holgate had rewarded AusPost executives with Cartier watches (that were actually towards the cheaper end of the luxury watches range).
And, to be honest, I think Holgate was unjustly sacked. Moreover, I share with her many upper-middle class, relatively affluent, educated, professional, upwardly mobile sisters the feeling that her summary dismissal may have had something to do with her gender.
I also believe ScoMo’s confected outrage may also have had to do with the need for a scapegoat, as his Cabinet has been involved in all sorts of scandals without him taking any measure to impose some semblance of discipline. It was an easy way to show the public he’s actually doing something about that.
What I find troublesome is that as the “conversation” (that’s the term the educated use nowadays) centres around Holgate – the latest white-clad feminist icon/martyr – the fate of AusPost itself fades in the background. In other words, as the commentariat rages over the fate of a single well-off individual, the fate of the over 75,000-strong AusPost workforce (from 147 nationalities and of all genders and ages and ethnicities, according to its 2020 Annual Report) is rendered immaterial.
And talk about plans to break up AusPost and privatising its profitable bits (what I call break-and-sell strategy), while denied by federal Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher, is not going away, as that extract from a study the AusPost board commissioned shows.
It’s not like AusPost is losing money. And that money goes straight to the Commonwealth, that apparently needs cash like crazy (you know what they say, “money doesn’t grow in trees”).
The problem is that while parcel revenue is doing great – last December, thanks to the COVID19 lockdowns, AusPost delivered 52 million parcels, an all-time record in its 211 history – letter revenue is not.
So, the conclusion proponents of break-and-sell (allegedly from the Institute of Public Affairs) is that parcels are subsidising letters. Their bright idea is to break a profitable Commonwealth-owned business to saddle the Commonwealth with the letters business and sell the parcels business – which they believe is where profits are made – to their private sector sponsors.
What those geniuses apparently can’t wrap their heads around is that the same postie who delivers letters in one house, delivers parcels next door; the same plane or truck that takes letters from one town to the other also carries parcels; the same attendant who sells stamps for your letter, sells stamps for your parcel. It’s easy to allocate separate revenue: you have that colourful chart there to prove it; but it’s impossible to allocate separate costs, dumbasses. So, if you can’t allocate costs, how on earth do you allocate profits?
Those 75,000 workers will be fucked over, while the liberal/Leftish keep themselves entertained with Holgate-gate. Equally fucked over will be rural and remote area communities that rely on AusPost.
The ScoMo Government is not just incapable of running the country. It’s incapable even of making business decisions.
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As usual, if you want to know what is going on in this kind of things, you better follow what the unions have to say. The Communications, Electrical and Postal Union has a good page about the Senate Inquiry into Australia Post.
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