The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Australia Post May 2021 © Commonwealth of Australia 2021 ISBN 978-1-76093-232-9 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. Members Chair Senator Sarah Hanson-Young AG, SA Deputy Chair Senator the Hon David Fawcett LP, SA Members Senator Catryna Bilyk ALP, TAS Senator Nita Green ALP, QLD Senator Sam McMahon CLP, NT Senator Anne Urquhart ALP, TAS Substitute Members Senator the Hon Kim Carr ALP, VIC (for Senator Green on 12, 13 and 27 April, and 3 and 13 May 2021) (for Senator Bilyk on 24 and 25 May 2021) Senator Kimberley Kitching ALP, VIC (for Senator Urquhart on 13 and 27 April, and 3 May 2021) Senator David Van LP, VIC (for Senator Fawcett on 13 April 2021) Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie NATS, VIC (for Senator McMahon on 27 April and 3 May 2021) Senator Marielle Smith ALP, SA (for Senator Urquhart on 24 May 2021) Participating Members Senator the Hon Matt Canavan NATS, QLD Senator the Hon Kim Carr ALP, VIC Senator Pauline Hanson PHON, QLD Senator the Hon Sarah Henderson LP, VIC Senator Kimberley Kitching ALP, VIC Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie NATS, VIC Senator Deborah O'Neill ALP, NSW Senator Malcolm Roberts PHON, QLD iii Secretariat Mr Stephen Palethorpe, Committee Secretary Mr Alan Raine, Committee Secretary Dr Emma Banyer, Principal Research Officer Mr Nicholas Craft, Principal Research Officer Dr Ash Clements, Senior Research Officer Ms Monika Sheppard, Senior Research Officer Ms Jade Monaghan, Research Officer Ms Emma Wannell, Research Officer Ms Anna Burnard, Graduate Ms Brooke Gay, Administrative Officer Ms Stephanie Oberman, Administrative Officer Mr David Pappas, Administrative Officer Website: www.aph.gov.au/senate_ec PO Box 6100 Phone: 02 6277 3526 Parliament House Fax: 02 6277 5818 Canberra ACT 2600 Email: [email protected] iv Table of Contents Members ............................................................................................................................................. iii List of recommendations .................................................................................................................. ix List of relevant names ...................................................................................................................... xv Executive summary .......................................................................................................................... xix PART 1—INTRODUCTION, ENGAGEMENT AND BACKGROUND .................................. 1 Chapter 1—Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 Referral of the inquiry ......................................................................................................................... 3 Conduct of the inquiry ........................................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................................... 4 Note on references ............................................................................................................................... 4 Structure of the report ......................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2—Australia Post's engagement with the Senate .......................................................... 7 Respect for the Senate's authority and processes ................................................................. 7 Allegations of interference with submitters and witnesses .............................................. 10 Allegations of false or misleading evidence........................................................................ 11 Committee view ................................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 3—Background to the inquiry ......................................................................................... 17 Board membership and executive management ................................................................ 18 Australia Post's community service obligations and performance standards ............... 19 Recent temporary regulatory changes ................................................................................. 22 Proposed changes to Australia Post's carriage of perishable food products ................. 23 Background to the inquiry ................................................................................................................ 24 Bank@Post ................................................................................................................................ 24 Reviews and inquiries into Australia Post .................................................................................... 26 PART 2—THE HOLGATE MATTER ............................................................................................ 37 Chapter 4—Timeline of events ....................................................................................................... 39 Events leading to Ms Holgate's resignation ................................................................................... 39 Ms Holgate's resignation ................................................................................................................... 49 Events following Ms Holgate's resignation .................................................................................... 52 v Recent developments ......................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 5—The purchase of the watches ..................................................................................... 61 Involvement of the former Chair ..................................................................................................... 61 Involvement of the Board ................................................................................................................. 64 Compliance with Australia Post policy and the PGPA Act ......................................................... 64 Australia Post policy .............................................................................................................. 64 Acquittal and reporting ......................................................................................................... 69 The PGPA Act ......................................................................................................................... 72 Public expectations ................................................................................................................. 74 Committee view ................................................................................................................................. 75 Comparison with other bonuses, rewards and remuneration .................................................... 76 Executive remuneration and bonuses .................................................................................. 76 Bonuses across the Commonwealth .................................................................................... 78 Comparison of CEO remuneration ..................................................................................... 82 Gifts and rewards under the previous CEO ..................................................................... 83 A 'culture' that rewards gift-giving? .................................................................................... 84 Committee view ................................................................................................................................. 85 Chapter 6—The standing aside of Ms Holgate ........................................................................... 87 Did Ms Holgate agree to stand aside? ............................................................................................ 87 The Board Meeting on 22 October 2020 ............................................................................... 91 After the Board Meeting ........................................................................................................ 94 The role of Mr Nutt ................................................................................................................. 96 Board Meetings on 23 and 29 October 2020 ........................................................................ 98 Involvement of the Prime Minister and Shareholder Ministers .................................................. 99 Was the Board directed to stand Ms Holgate aside? ....................................................... 101 The legality of the standing aside ...................................................................................... 104 Committee view ............................................................................................................................... 106 Culpability of the Board ....................................................................................................... 107 Culpability of the Prime Minister and Shareholder ........................................................