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Speaker 1: Post officers have taken the lead of banks around the

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Speaker 1: nation and closing local outlets. There's been quite a few

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Speaker 1: to go in South Australia over well a period of

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Speaker 1: time years where for instance, and okay, they were pretty

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Speaker 1: close to each other. I'm thinking in the city where

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Speaker 1: on Halifax Street there was a branch just near King

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Speaker 1: William Street that closed a good year or so ago

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Speaker 1: now and the one on hart Street moved around the

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Speaker 1: corner into Halifax Street but at the Hut Street end

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Speaker 1: to basically take the role of both. Meantime, the one

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Speaker 1: in the GPO itself has moved back. It's still there,

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Speaker 1: but it's building or two further back along Flinders Street,

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Speaker 1: so Franklin Street on that side of King William So

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Speaker 1: you know they're reorganizing themselves. But certainly the one in

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Speaker 1: Halifax Street has gone. But out at Campbelltown the latest

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Speaker 1: closure one to go there. Vincent Tarsier is the member

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Speaker 1: for Hartley, which takes in the Campbelltown area. He's on

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Speaker 1: the line, Vincent Tarzia, good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matthew, and to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: It is the latest, isn't it And your community is

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Speaker 1: going to copy there.

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Speaker 2: Well, Matthew, all I can say is that locals are

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Speaker 2: still fighting and I'm in the trenches fighting with them

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Speaker 2: as well. We've had around nine hundred and fifty residents

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Speaker 2: that have now signed the petition to try and keep

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Speaker 2: this post office open and will continue the fight. All

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Speaker 2: I can say, Matthew is that Australia Posts should be

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Speaker 2: absolutely ashamed of themselves in relation to trying to close

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Speaker 2: this post office. This decision is it a lazy one,

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Speaker 2: It is unsophisticated, it is ignorant, and it's a really

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Speaker 2: poor decision because I know that you've got there a

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Speaker 2: landlord that is willing to do the right thing and

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Speaker 2: work with Australia Posts. And if it's the if it's

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Speaker 2: the provative of Australia Posts to reduce spending, well I

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Speaker 2: think there is a deal to be done that can

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Speaker 2: still benefit all parties where they still can be a footprint,

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Speaker 2: but they can still reduce their costs as well. But

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Speaker 2: to be honest, Matthew, that the conduct of Australia Posts

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Speaker 2: has been absolutely a calling and we will just keep

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Speaker 2: fighting for local residents and try and get some sort

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Speaker 2: of halfway result here that still benefits everyone involved.

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Speaker 1: Where's the next nearest one.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, there are a range of other post office.

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Speaker 2: You've got one at Durnancourt, you've got one at McGill,

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Speaker 2: you've got one at Felix. Though the problem is it's

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Speaker 2: you know what sort of service is offered at that

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Speaker 2: post office? Do you just want the box service? Do

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Speaker 2: you want a service that allows your passport to get

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Speaker 2: process that. The other devastating thing is to that point

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Speaker 2: is if Australia Post goes here, it's also going to

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Speaker 2: lead to a reduction in foot traffic and that is

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Speaker 2: going to seriously hurt all the other businesses along that

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Speaker 2: shopping center. And of course it is on a transport

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Speaker 2: route and you've seen how you know, some of the

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Speaker 2: most vulnerable in our society, people with disabilities, the elderly.

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Speaker 2: Some of these people they just do not go too

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Speaker 2: far from the house and unless they absolutely need to,

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Speaker 2: and if it's not on a transport route like a

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Speaker 2: bus route, it's not reasonable for them to catch an

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Speaker 2: uber or get in a taxi just to do basic

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Speaker 2: day to day services. So look, we just think that

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Speaker 2: this decision from Australia Post is absolutely appalling and I'm

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Speaker 2: hoping that they do wake up, and I'm hoping that

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Speaker 2: they do come to the table with some sort of

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Speaker 2: sensible compromise.

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Speaker 1: What's the reason for the closure? What have they said?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, it's pretty pretty obvious that it's about the

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Speaker 2: dollars and the cents, and my response to that is, well,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, I mean Australia Post

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Speaker 2: is wholly owned by Australian Government and that's why I'm

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Speaker 2: saying that this is a public service. An Australia Post

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Speaker 2: should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. I can understand that

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Speaker 2: they're trying to save costs where they can, but my

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Speaker 2: response to that is, well, let's see if we can

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Speaker 2: come up with some sort of compromise where they can

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Speaker 2: save costs. But the community still has a service and

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Speaker 2: that has been the disappointing part about Australia Posts. As

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Speaker 2: I said, nearly nine hundred and fifty letters have been

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Speaker 2: written to Australia Posts always come. We'll probably crack and

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Speaker 2: hit a thousand, but we'll just keep up the fight.

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Speaker 2: See how we go.

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Speaker 1: Don't they have a statutory obligation under legislation to keep

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Speaker 1: post officers open.

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Speaker 2: Well, at the end of the day, it's a it's

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Speaker 2: a public service and that has to be delivered. They

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Speaker 2: would argue that they still are delivering it. But of

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Speaker 2: course this is a really callous way of doing it,

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Speaker 2: you know, sending some of the most vulnerable in our

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Speaker 2: society it now won't be able to operate a local

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Speaker 2: post office for several kilometers is just not on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, is it? The fact we're not posting letters anywhere

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Speaker 1: near as much anymore? Is that that would be a

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Speaker 1: killer to their business model, no doubt. But you know

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Speaker 1: they do off for other things obviously, and then things

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Speaker 1: that are important for all Australians, like, as you say,

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Speaker 1: the passport renewal service.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and look passport renewals.

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Speaker 1: I know.

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Speaker 2: I'm certainly doing my bit till my wife does. Matthew

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Speaker 2: with a two year old at home, we're always getting

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Speaker 2: deliveries in the male send lots of letters. I know

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Speaker 2: that the business model has changed, but that's why I'm saying, Look,

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Speaker 2: if you want to save money, let's at least have

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Speaker 2: the conversation about what a halfway point looks like.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and that's with the landlord involved.

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Speaker 2: Obviously lord is very amiable. Also, I'm only facilitating I'm

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Speaker 2: not involved in the negotiations. You've got bona fide abilities

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Speaker 2: there to work on and to try and come up

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Speaker 2: with a solution. But Australia Post is just not playing

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Speaker 2: ball and you're seeing that spill out now into the

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Speaker 2: media where I saw one of the local residence Dave,

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Speaker 2: who's a great guy in our local community, that they're

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Speaker 2: fed up as well. But we'll keep fighting and advocating

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Speaker 2: for our local residents.

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Speaker 1: Should they have a greater role than Vincent through government,

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Speaker 1: state and federal too unload services onto Australia Post outlets.

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Speaker 1: So there's a need for them to be there. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking you know, assisting with some, if not a lot,

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Speaker 1: of for instance service SA type functions and as you say,

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Speaker 1: the passport's one thing, and perhaps other things that can

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Speaker 1: be put onto post office to look after seeing there

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Speaker 1: obviously not selling as many stamps as they once did,

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Speaker 1: they can do other things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this whole model certainly has to be

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Speaker 2: looked at. I mean, if they're going to do this

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Speaker 2: at Campbelltown, the really scary thing is they can do

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Speaker 2: this anyway, because you go into that Campbelltown Post office

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Speaker 2: and your listeners that go there will tell you this.

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Speaker 2: It is always busy, there's always seven eight people in

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Speaker 2: the line and it is just flat chat all the time.

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Speaker 2: And you know, hundreds of people in that local community

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Speaker 2: at least use that service. So that's the scary thing here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other thing too, just talking banks with

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Speaker 1: Robert Simms before the break and the amount of closures. Well,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't it be good if they could be outlets for banks.

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Speaker 1: Some have been in the past and probably still are today.

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Speaker 1: But if that became a thing, branches disappearing from banks,

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Speaker 1: well we can go to the post office if they

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Speaker 1: were still around.

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Speaker 2: Certain an opportunity for them to work together. And Matt,

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Speaker 2: you know, with the glitch that happened last week or

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Speaker 2: the week before, lots of my residency who you know

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Speaker 2: still liked transact in cash. They did be lying if

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Speaker 2: they didn't say to me, I told you so. So

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Speaker 2: you know, sometimes you know, these things show you and

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Speaker 2: are a great test and resilience. And you know, if

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Speaker 2: that service, those services won't weren't renewed for a few

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Speaker 2: more days, I think, you know, we really could have

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Speaker 2: gotten into a chilling situation. So I still think there

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Speaker 2: is a case for bricks and more businesses like Australia

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Speaker 2: Posts outlets because they serve a vital role for those

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Speaker 2: in that community that reply their services.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, see where it goes. Thank you, Vincent,

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Speaker 1: Thank you Vincentanzia Member for Hartley