Australia Post ordered to show greater transparency
Australia Post will be required to show greater transparency in its financial records under new rules put in place by the national competition watchdog today.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued mandatory Record Keeping Rules (RKRs) for Australia Post after receiving complaints from some of its retail and freight competitors.
Other retailers had raised concerns that Australia Post had been unfairly using its monopoly position as the country’s only provider of letter mail services to leverage itself in the retail sector through its shops.
The new rules ensure there can be no cross-subsidisation within Australia Post in terms of setting up other businesses and using the strength from its core business to subsidise others.
Australia Post will now be required to keep up to date records in relation to price surveillance, inquiries into disputes over terms and conditions of access to its bulk mail services, and monitoring for cross subsidy benefits.
ACCC Commissioner John Martin said the RKRs were put in place following extensive consultation with Australia Post and other parties competing in its markets.
“The concern is that they could be using their market power – and profits from that – to subsidise other businesses that they might want to get into,” he said.
“It’s very hard to delineate the different businesses that they work in and this will make it as clear as possible as to the revenues and profitability in all of those areas.
“Issue of these RKRs should ensure that Australia Post is not using its monopoly power in letters to the detriment of competition in other markets.”
