Kate Carr in the Inner West Courier today (12 January 2011) reported:
Federal Labor Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has bowed to growing pressure to intervene to save Glebe Post Office and has asked Australia Post to reconsider its decision to close the facility.
The closure, which is slated for February, has sparked outrage among Glebe residents who have formed a citizens’ action group to oppose the move.
A spokeswoman for Mr Conroy told the Courier he was aware of the community concerns about the closure and had received letters from Federal Labor Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek as well as State Labor Balmain MP Verity Firth on the issue.
“In light of the issues raised, the Minister has asked that Australia Post give further consideration to the impact the proposed closure will have on residents,” the spokeswoman said.
Sydney Federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek wrote to Mr Conroy on January 5 urging him to keep Glebe Post Office open.
In her letter Ms Plibersek said the planned closure had caused “considerable local concern”.
She said the closure would have a detrimental impact on the many elderly residents in Glebe who relied on the post office to pay their bills.
Ms Plibersek is the second high profile Labor MP to speak out against the planned closure.
Balmain State Labor MP Verity Firth announced in December she would be launching a campaign to keep the post office open.
While this is a welcome development, the Glebe Society encourages members to continue to make representations against the closure to Australia Post and political leaders.
Attached are:
- a list of addresses to write to; and
- three examples of letters written by members since our Acting President wrote before Christmas (see https://www.glebesociety.org.au/?p=4396).
3 comments. Please add yours.
My last ditch letter of 3 February to Australia Post Chairman and Managing Director/CEO has been emailed to Ministers Conroy, Wong, Plibersek and Firth and Lord Mayor Moore.
From Peter Pockley
25 Avenue Road
Glebe NSW 2037
Telephone: +61 (0) 2 9660 6363
Fax: +61 (0) 2 9660 6239
Email: scicomm@bigpond.net.au
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Mr David Mortimer 3 February 2011
Chairman
And FOR URGENT ATTENTION PLEASE
Mr Ahmed Fahour
Managing Director and CEO
Australia Post
GPO Box 9911
Melbourne
VIC 3001
(Via Express Post CN1122501, lodged at Glebe Post Office box)
Dear Mr Mortimer and Mr Fahour,
This letter should arrive on 4 February which will go down in history as a day of shame for Australia Post which was once considered a national icon of service to the public. This is the day that you decreed that the Glebe Post Office will close for good despite your having made no effort to acquaint yourselves with the needs of the community for which the PO has been an essential service for generations. The alternatives you offer are simply laughable for neglecting the social functions and local amenity for which the Postmaster General’s Department and, originally, Australia Post were rightly treasured.
The outpouring of outrage at the dismissive manner of your management (e.g. your peremptory notice on the front door of the PO that “Australia Post sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused”) has been more than amply demonstrated by the petition of four thousand local residents and workers and the massive demonstration outside the PO on 20 January.
Yet, your management has not seen fit to answer your customers in person, nor have you responded publicly through the media; e.g. to the powerful arguments assembled by Elizabeth Farrelly in The Sydney Morning Herald on 27 January and Letters to the Editor of that paper from residents of Glebe.
I plead with you to restore a semblance of mutual trust with your community here by showing generosity of spirit with a stay of execution while you engage directly with the people you are charged with serving adequately. It is never too late to embrace a fresh start!
Yours sincerely,
Verity Firth, the local State member for Balmain, advised me today (Thursday, January 13) that she and Federal member Tania Plibersek will be speaking at a rally calling for the retention of Glebe Post Office at the post office (cnr Glebe Point Road and St John's Road) at 10.00am on Thursday, January 20. My wife and I will be there.