April 20, 2015
Queensland LNP Senator Barry O’Sullivan has welcomed today’s announcement by Westpac that its banking services will soon be available at many rural and regional post offices in Queensland.
Westpac services will be available at 571 Australia Post Office sites in Queensland, including 320 in country areas.
Senator O’Sullivan said this would provide a much-needed additional revenue stream for many privately owned Licensed Post Offices.
“Post Offices are the maypole that many of our rural and regional communities are built around and so I am an enthusiastic supporter of anything that can generate greater revenue for these businesses,” Senator O’Sullivan said.
“As I have travelled through the State during the past year I have encountered countless stories of post office business owners struggling to pay their bills.
“There are also many local councils operating community post offices at a loss simply because they are trying to stop another service from leaving the town.
“If we are going to attract families to rural Australia, we need to provide basic services, and over-the-counter post office and banking facilities are an important part of that.”
A Westpac spokesman said the Australia Post agreement would give Westpac customers the ability to conduct traditional cash withdrawals, coin, cash and cheque deposits, in-store identity checks and make account balance inquiries.
No regional branches will be affected by the announcement but 147 current third party agency service agreements – usually a newsagency, chemist, video store or real estate agent – would be transferred to Australia Post.
