{"id":82797,"date":"2014-09-25T16:41:40","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T06:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=82797"},"modified":"2025-05-12T16:40:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T06:40:52","slug":"private-post-offices-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Private Post Offices &#8216;At Risk&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_82798\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-82798\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mcgrath.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-82798\" title=\"Senator James McGrath\" src=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mcgrath.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"282\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-82798\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Qld Senator James McGrath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>September 25, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Queensland LNP Senators Barry O\u2019Sullivan, Ian MacDonald, James McGrath and Matt Canavan have called on Australia Post to act urgently to ensure the viability of privately owned post offices across rural and regional Australia, following the release of a damning Senate Inquiry report yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>The Environment and Communications Legislation Senate Committee report found Australia Post\u2019s lack of consultation with its more than 3000 privately owned post offices was leading to a \u201cgrowing divide\u201d that threatened long-term viability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Among the 18 recommendations, the committee concluded that:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull should commission an independent audit of the functions of privately owned post offices (ie &#8220;Licensed Post Offices&#8221;) and;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Australia Post should be required to renegotiate the terms and conditions of some agreements with Licensed Post Offices to ensure they are fair and equitable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Senator O\u2019Sullivan said Australia Post must support the recommendations to ensure the viability of privately owned post offices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome payments to privately owned post offices have not kept up with the consumer price index over the past two decades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThis is a great deal of money that privately owned post offices have missed out on. These are matters that make the difference between being profitable and unviable. They need to be examined through an independent audit process.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPost offices stand alongside hospitals and schools as essential services for rural and regional communities. They are the maypole of some communities and we need to fight for their survival.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senator MacDonald said many Licensed Post Office operators had dedicated their life savings to the business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy primary concern is for continuation of services across Northern Australia particularly in the rural and remote areas that are more reliant on postal services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know many small business people who put their life savings into LPO businesses in country areas and we need to make sure they are not being ripped off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Senator McGrath said rural and remote and small communities needed vibrant and commercially viable postal offices to ensure the communication services and social benefits they provided were maintained.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a big supporter of regional and rural and small communities, and I\u2019m quite tired of big business \u2013 including statutory organisations \u2013 brushing aside the needs of these communities for the sake of saving a buck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAustralia Post realises that its outlets provide more than a postal service to smaller communities \u2013 they also provide a social function, an avenue to maintain better contact with distant friends and retailers and service providers, and it is vital that this is recognised and valued and that it remains.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senator Matt Cananvan said it was in the public interest to ensure privately owned post offices remained viable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must always be pushing for greater economic resilience across rural and regional Australia \u2013 but it cannot be at the expense of community liveability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPost Offices are vital communal hubs in rural and regional areas throughout Central Queensland and the rest of the Australia, and the Senate committee recognises that we must do everything in our power to prevent their demise.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>External link:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/Parliamentary_Business\/Committees\/Senate\/Environment_and_Communications\/Australia_Post_in_Australian_communities\/Report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Senate inquiry report<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Queensland LNP Senators Barry O\u2019Sullivan, Ian MacDonald, James McGrath and Matt Canavan have called on Australia Post to act urgently to ensure the viability of privately owned post offices across rural and regional Australia, following the release of a damning Senate Inquiry report yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":360586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Private Post Offices &#039;At Risk&#039; - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Private Post Offices &#039;At Risk&#039; - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Queensland LNP Senators Barry O\u2019Sullivan, Ian MacDonald, James McGrath and Matt Canavan have called on Australia Post to act urgently to ensure the viability of privately owned post offices across rural and regional Australia, following the release of a damning Senate Inquiry report yesterday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-25T06:41:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-12T06:40:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/jamesmcgrath2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/\",\"name\":\"Private Post Offices 'At Risk' - southburnett.com.au\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-25T06:41:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-12T06:40:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/\",\"name\":\"southburnett.com.au\",\"description\":\"Kingaroy and South Burnett News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae\",\"name\":\"Anne Miller\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/author\/anne-miller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Private Post Offices 'At Risk' - southburnett.com.au","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Private Post Offices 'At Risk' - southburnett.com.au","og_description":"Queensland LNP Senators Barry O\u2019Sullivan, Ian MacDonald, James McGrath and Matt Canavan have called on Australia Post to act urgently to ensure the viability of privately owned post offices across rural and regional Australia, following the release of a damning Senate Inquiry report yesterday.","og_url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/","og_site_name":"southburnett.com.au","article_published_time":"2014-09-25T06:41:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-12T06:40:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/jamesmcgrath2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anne Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anne Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/","name":"Private Post Offices 'At Risk' - southburnett.com.au","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-25T06:41:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-12T06:40:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/09\/25\/private-post-offices-at-risk\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/","name":"southburnett.com.au","description":"Kingaroy and South Burnett News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae","name":"Anne Miller","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/author\/anne-miller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82797"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360587,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82797\/revisions\/360587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}