{"id":23423,"date":"2013-02-11T21:51:56","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T11:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=23423"},"modified":"2020-12-21T15:39:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T05:39:26","slug":"advice-sought-from-ombudsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/02\/11\/advice-sought-from-ombudsman\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice Sought From Ombudsman"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SBRC Cr Damien Tessmann addresses the crowd at last Friday’s Kingaroy post office protest watched by Greens candidate for Maranoa Grant Newson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 11, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has been contacted in relation to the decision to close counter services at the Kingaroy Street Post Office.<\/p>\n

The move followed an ABC Radio report today<\/a><\/strong> where an Australia Post spokesman ruled out any reversal of the corporation’s decision.<\/p>\n

Members of the protest group were told they must first lodge a complaint with Australia Post’s Customer Contact Channel, then return the matter to the Ombudsman’s office if they are unhappy with the response.<\/p>\n

Australia Post area manager Geoff Hyland told ABC Radio that Australia Post’s customer base in Kingaroy had declined by 20 per cent over the past five years.<\/p>\n

He said services needed to be centred at the Kingaroy Shoppingworld outlet to ensure the long-term viability of postal services in the town but denied the change amounted to a service reduction.<\/p>\n

“It’s more about … building a strong presence in Kingaroy with postal services and certainly about maintaining and looking for a long-term benefit and viability for postal services in Kingaroy,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Hyland said only about 100 people per day use the Kingaroy Street post office, while the Shoppingworld outlet serves 500 people daily.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a group of 60 Kingaroy residents demonstrated outside the post office against the planned closure.<\/p>\n

The Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry has already written a letter of protest to Australia Post, and South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann will be meeting protest representatives tomorrow before doing the same.<\/p>\n

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