Battered by fights with the federal government over its “non-drought” status, the Quilpie district is preparing to do battle to keep one of its essential services afloat.
A processing inequity means Quilpie’s post office licencee Rhyna Nicholls is being paid one-sixth the amount offered to metropolitan operators to handle parcels.
Because the town has no street delivery, only post boxes, all mail, including parcels, is delivered to the post office for processing, for a fee of 25 cents.
In comparison, a metropolitan post office only has to process street delivered articles and parcels when they receive them from an Australia Post contractor who has not been able to deliver them successfully, and receives $1.60 for doing so.
“It’s a 20-year-old system but Australia Post doesn’t want to change it,” Rhyna said. “We’ve been telling them for a number of years that we’re under-funded.”
Senator Barry O’Sullivan has called for an urgent national review into Australia Post’s payment systems to Licensed Post Offices (LPO) to prevent the closure of outlets across rural and remote areas, but Rhyna says she doesn’t want to talk about closing when the town is reeling from the effects of drought.
“I want to talk about sustainability, and get a result,” she said. “We just have to.”
Rhyna added that the issue wasn’t about losses she was incurring, but about being an example of the injustices of the payment system.
“It’s not about Rhyna being incompetent or greedy – this is Australia-wide,” she said.
The Quilpie Post Office services more than 17 per cent of the Queensland landmass. In 2014 it handled over 30 tonnes of mail for Birdsville, and there are over 1000 parcels a month delivered to Quilpie.
Rhyna said these statistics were one indication of the vital role played by the post office in the community. It also offers banking and passport services. The nearest alternatives are at Charleville, a round trip of 440km away.
Senator O’Sullivan said he has also been contacted by other Licensed Post Office operators from across rural Australia that claim they are unviable and may be forced to close their doors due to the outdated and unsuitable payments offered by Australia Post.
He said he was also aware some LPOs have been taken over by local councils, sometimes running annual losses of more than $100,000 each year.
Senator O’Sullivan said there was clear evidence the current system was broken and unless urgent action was taken to ensure communications delivery to the bush was profitable and viable in the long term, the ‘tyranny of distance’ would continue to stymie economic growth and liveability in rural Australia.
“The tyranny of distance has been the bogeyman that has always haunted the economic potential of rural Australia,” Senator O’Sullivan said.
“But our move to the communications age was supposed to tackle these challenges. Things have improved in some ways but we need a much more focussed effort to make sure our rural communities are not left behind.
“The delivery of reliable and viable communication systems, such as the internet and postal services, is essential to enable our rural communities to be innovative, productive and competitive in the global marketplace.
“To deny these communities a strong communications sector is to deny their ability to reach their economic potential and, as a consequence, treat them as second class citizens.”
Senator O’Sullivan said that when a service like a post office was taken out of a town, the whole town and region were affected forever.
“The Australian postal service has confronted financial difficulties multiple times throughout its long history due to the huge distances required to service our nation,” he said.
“But despite the cost of ensuring postal routes and mail networks are maintained, few would dispute the absolute importance of postal outlets and facilities to develop and sustain all Australian communities, especially those in rural and remote areas.
“The time has come to tackle this issue head first so we can ensure our rural and remote Licensed Post Offices can provide their essential services and local employment for many, many years to come.”
Australia Post has been contacted for comment but no response has been received.
