00:00 The Federal Government says that these changes to letter deliveries are mainly down to financial
00:07 concerns and ensuring that Australia Post remains viable and efficient.
00:12 Instead of Australians receiving letters in their mailbox every day, deliveries will be
00:17 reduced to every second day instead.
00:21 And Australia Post says that this is part of a plan to modernise their business model.
00:26 They say that letter demand has decreased drastically and daily delivery of letters
00:30 has become unsustainable.
00:33 Australia Post says the average Australian household now receives just two letters each
00:37 week.
00:38 Last financial year, the business reported a loss of more than $200 million and those
00:44 losses are forecast to continue.
00:46 The Federal Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, says the changes are also necessary
00:51 in order to boost the delivery of parcels where demand has been booming given the growth
00:57 of e-commerce businesses.
00:59 This is a little bit of what she had to say earlier.
01:01 I commend the Communication Workers Union and Australia Post and the workforce overall
01:09 for collaborating in a way that has enabled a trial of a new delivery model, one that
01:15 has been widely embraced where it has been undertaken, but also recognises that Australians
01:23 want a better parcel service.
01:26 That is where the demand is.
01:29 Australia Post needs to invest in better models to meet those demands and also in new technology
01:36 and other ways in which consumers can be best served.
01:40 Australia Post says that these changes will allow postal workers to focus more on parcel
01:45 deliveries and that during a trial of these changes, 20% more parcels were able to be
01:51 delivered because of increases in productivity.
01:54 They say that they'll also add more parcel postage and collection points to the network
01:59 as well and also that urgent and priority mail won't be affected by these changes.
02:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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