AusPost execs may still get $7m in bonuses despite promising to take pay cut   
The Age
August 28, 2020

Australia Post's top executives could still share in millions of dollars in bonuses this year despite offering to forgo their right to the special payments amid a looming coronavirus-induced recession.

The national mail service has opened the door for its executive team to share in up to $7 million in bonus payments after the organisation defied dire forecasts to record a 7 per cent jump in full-year revenue and a profit before tax of $53.6 million.

Australia Post boss Christine Holgate could still get her bonus despite a March offer to reject it.


Chief executive Christine Holgate announced to staff in late March that senior management would take 20 per cent pay cuts and waive their right to bonuses as it looked to slashed its costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Holgate, who was paid $2.5 million last year as the nation's highest earning civil servant, is estimated to be in line for a $1 million-plus bonus while other executives could take home up to $600,000.   



AusPost was given temporary permission by the federal government in April to move to every second day delivery of mail in metro areas until June 30 next year, as part of a broader movement within the postal service to cut costs.


It issued warnings this week of major delays to Father's Day mail deliveries amid constraints on the network and a continuing rise in parcel volumes affecting its "speed and ability to deliver".

Ms Holgate said in an email to staff on March 31 that the executive team and board was "all doing their share" to assist the publicly-owned entity's financial situation, with the combination of both measures to effectively reduce potential earnings in this period by more than 50 per cent.

"We are in this together," she said.

But a spokesman said on Friday a decision on executive bonuses had "not yet been made".

"The executive team offered to forgo a bonus in March. Whether they are paid or not is a decision for the board," the spokesman said.

Sources close to the executive team said Ms Holgate had taken a proposal to the board in recent weeks to pay executive bonuses following the organisation's strong financial performance. Full details of executive remuneration will not be tabled in Federal Parliament until October.

Several board members contacted by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age would not comment on the matter of executive pay and said it was a matter for Ms Holgate's office.

The federal government deferred general wage increases for Commonwealth Public Servants for six months in April to minimise the impacts on COVID-19 on the Australian economy for workers and their families.

It followed a freeze on senior public servants’ salary increases and also requested a stay for all ministers, parliamentarians and parliamentary office holders.


Australia Post executives have been a lightning rod for salary scandals in recent years, with Ms Holgate's predecessor, Ahmed Fahour, paid $10.79 million, including an accrued long-term bonus, for his final year running the organisation.

The package triggered major outrage and forced then chairman John Stanhope to cut long-term bonuses for top executives by the equivalent of a 20 per cent of their total pay, in line with "community expectations".

Ms Holgate was also lashed by a bipartisan parliamentary committee this week for attempting to avoid scrutiny over future changes at the postal service.

The Senate committee accused Ms Holgate and Australia Post of failing to be accountable to "the people of Australia through the Parliament and its committee system", and recommended executives and staff undergo basic accountability training.

Labor's communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said the results seriously called into question whether they had cut services and jobs "under the cover of COVID-19".   

That's what happens when you try to run a public service on 'business' lines ostensibly for 'greater efficiency' - the costs to the user go through the roof and a heap of it ends up in the pockets of worthless characters at the top who nobody would ever vote for.

As usual, the tightening of the belts only occurs among those who have the least.  Keep feeding that beast of burden a little bit less every day and eventually it will run on no feed at all.... I can just see those AusPost workers straggling into work at a snail's pace after a dinner of a packet of noodles and a bottle of gin to wash away the aches and pains... very efficient.

Sir lastnail wrote on Aug 29^th, 2020 at 2:51pm:


They can be beauties - I won a State of Origin Blues jacket once, and the dopey pricks slashed the wrapping to see what was inside, leaving a 3-4 inch cut in the jacket.  No responsibility taken, either.

Looked good when I met Matt Rogers on the flight back from QLD, good chat about the game etc.  I had a Challenger NASA patch over the cut.  Still there.