A HUNTER MP has lashed the federal government for allowing Australia Post to reduce its delivery frequency as the national service faces a wave of demand amid coronavirus lockdown.
Shortland MP Pat Conroy said daily letter deliveries would stop after the Morrison government allowed Australia Post to deliver every few days until June next year.
Letters within NSW will now take a minimum of seven days to arrive rather than the traditional three.
Mr Conroy said his concern was that the changes would become permanent.
"Having mail delivered five days a week meant posties could deliver parcels everyday as well," Mr Conroy said.
"Because of these service cuts, delivery timeframes for small to medium-sized parcels could also be delayed.
"It's up to the government to explain why grandchildren in the Hunter and Central Coast will have to wait longer to get a birthday card from their grandparents on the north coast.
"It's up to all those who voted to support the delayed delivery times to tell small businesses across the region why it's a good idea that their invoices will take longer to land in customers' inboxes."
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The changes come as Australia Post on Thursday announced a new record group revenue for the past financial year, up seven per cent.
That result also included rowing losses in the letters business and increased network costs, cited as a factor in its pre-tax profit rising only $13 million on last year. Parcel and services revenue rose 15 per cent.
Australia Post Group chief executive officer and managing director Christine Holgate said the result showed the need for the temporary regulatory relief as customer behaviour changed in areas including Victoria.
"The temporary regulatory relief provides us the opportunity to enable the posties to deliver more parcels in turn helping sustain their roles and protect the viability of our post offices in a very challenging period," Ms Holgate said.
"The pandemic has also severely impacted our ability to deliver across the country on time. We had to make temporary changes, including new parcel pop-up facilities and chartering planes for air freight, to continue to serve the country during what has been a very uncertain year.
Ms Holgate said over-the-counter parcel transactions had increased during the pandemic.
