Govt ditches reforms to Australia Post
The federal government ditched plans to reduce Australia Post’s monopoly of postal services, blaming opposition from Labor and the minor parties.
Communications Minister Richard Alston said the government had backed down because it did not want to waste the community’s time pursuing reforms that were doomed in the Senate.
“It has become apparent that the legislation would have no hope of passing through the Senate and would simply provide the opportunity for further Labor misrepresentation and scaremongering,” he said.
“Accordingly the government has pulled the rug out from under the Labor Party, which is understandably very annoyed at being deprived of an opportunity for further misleading and deceptive conduct.”
The bill was introduced to parliament nearly 12 months ago and would have allowed Australia Post competitors to shift letters of 50 grams or more, but kept the monopoly for standard letters.
Introduced under national competition policy, the bill would also have removed the monopoly on incoming overseas mail, corporatised Australia Post and partially deregulated business mail.
Senator Alston said the government still supported the reforms and did not rule out reintroducing or modifying them before the federal election, due later this year.
He denied the backdown was part of Prime Minister John Howard’s promise to ease the impact of national competition policy reforms, saying the government was committed to improving services in the bush.
Labor said the changes would have cost Australia Post $200 million and possibly led to higher prices and reduced services in areas outside the capital cities.
The opposition was taken by surprise this morning when the government dumped the Postal Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2000 from the parliamentary schedule, without explanation.
Deputy opposition leader Simon Crean was gagged when he tried to attack the government over the move.
