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Australia Post bank desperately needed
from Alison Ryan
There was a public forum in Parliament House on 7 September making the case for a public postal bank.
Former New Zealand Cabinet Minister Matt Robson attended, and “concluded from what he saw that Australia is well on the way to winning the bank. Australia has a real chance to achieve a public bank that the public will take ownership of, ensuring politicians won’t be game to try to privatise it, which Matt Robson reported has been NZ’s experience.”
(From Australian Alert Service, 14 September 2022)
Robert Barwick commented in the AAS that:
“The existing political support for a public post office bank is unusually bipartisan, ranging from the Greens to One Nation, Katter’s Australian Party, many individual members of the Nationals and ALP, including senior figures, and even members of the Liberal Party. All parliamentary political parties were represented at the forum, either by politicians or their staffers.
Member for Kennedy Bob Katter, whose support for Christine Holgate and the LPOG was pivotal in forcing last year’s inquiry, is a staunch advocate of public banking, and spoke of the potential for investment in economic development. Mr Katter is preparing a bill, called the Commonwealth Postal Savings Bank Bill, which would establish a Commonwealth government-owned banking corporation, separate from Australian Postal Corporation with its own board and management, but with a permanent agency agreement to operate through post offices. The bill’s provisions include that the bank is guaranteed by the Commonwealth government; the agency agreement must ensure that Australia Post and the LPOs receive full and fair payment for providing the infrastructure for banking services; the bank will provide full banking services, including taking deposits and advancing loans; the bank may lend for housing, small and medium enterprises including farms, and local, state and federal infrastructure projects; the bank must act in the public interest; and the bank must give priority to access to banking services.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts said a public bank is needed to hold the private banks accountable and to ensure banking services for all communities. Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick described himself as a passionate backer of a people’s bank, both as an essential service, and as an instrument of monetary policy to direct investment into the economy. National Party Senator Ross Cadell attended but was called back to the chamber before he had a chance to speak. Closing the forum, LPOG Executive Director Angela Cramp said post office people were delighted at the support for a postal bank. “We have the network; we’re ready for the work,” she said. “Bring it on.””
A postal people’s bank is clearly both in Australia’s national interest, and is the long-term solution for Australia Post. It is also the solution for regional banking needs.
Post Office bank rejected by the Australian Banking Association
by Alison Ryan
Australia needs a public (i.e. government-owned) bank, like the original Commonwealth Bank, which served Australia from 1912 to 1996. Citizens Party is urging the support from Australians for the creation of a Postal bank.
Since Christine Holgate’s removal, Australia Post has descended back into chaos and financial difficulty.
The long-term solution for Australia Post, as Christine Holgate saw, is to permanently combine postal services with banking services by establishing a postal bank, a government bank that operates through post offices.
A postal bank would serve the communities being abandoned by the private banks, support the post office network and LPOs, and force the major banks to compete.
Bob Katter MHR is preparing to introduce legislation into Parliament to establish a postal bank.
To support this win-win economic solution, please get involved in the campaign.
- Citizens are encouraged to contact PM Albanese – to abide by the Senate inquiry report and not appoint Stephen Conroy to the Australia Post board, but appoint representatives of the workforce and the LPOs instead; Click here to contact PM Albanese
- And to contact our federal MP and Senators – to support Bob Katter’s bill for a post office people’s bank. Call and email your federal MP and Senators
- In the “People’s Mandate”, written by Arthur Chresby, Mr Chresby has shown citizens how they can write their MY WILL letters to MPs using the following format:
Dear Prime Minister, Mr Albanese / Federal MP / State Senators,
I know it is my duty to keep you informed of MY WILL on anything that comes before Parliament, or that should come before Parliament.
IT IS MY WILL that you take immediate action …
Yours faithfully,
(Full Name)
(Address)
(Date)
Video: CREATE A PUBLIC POST OFFICE BANK! – The solution to the closure of local bank branches
Chresby, Arthur (28 January 2018). “People’s Mandate”(PDF)
- Arthur Chresby passed away in Toowoomba in 1985 but his research lives on. Arthur was a former federal Liberal Member for Griffith in Brisbane and was highly sought after across the nation as a speaker on numerous issues including banking and the Constitution.
How the banks and big end of town own the LNP/ALP duopoly
Support sacked Australia Post CEO for helping the regions and standing up to the LNP and ALP
Get behind Christine Holgate – help get to 10,000 signers!
Click above and sign petition
On Tuesday 13 April Christine Holgate will speak publicly for the first time, at a hearing of the Senate inquiry into her removal. For a reminder of what is at stake, watch this short clip of Christine Holgate in 2018 announcing the banking deal with CBA that saved community post offices, jobs, and the regional communities that rely on post offices for banking services. Without this deal…
Banks forced Liberals to sack Christine Holgate, best ever Post Office CEO – Katter calls for reinstatement
KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter, a staunch supporter of former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate since her unethical dismissal last year will move in the Federal Government a motion to reinstate her as CEO.
He praised her integrity and perseverance in defending her decision to purchase Cartier watches as a reward for key employees securing long-term, profitable banking services which ensured the longevity of Australia Post branches around the country.
“The most successful and honourable businessmen I have ever had the pleasure of being a friend of, Marcus Blackmore, the great innovator in medicinal supplements had Christine for a long period as his Chief of Staff and he swears by her integrity and her competence,” he said.
“I cannot say how much I admire a person that cut her salary in her job down to that of a departmental head in a state government department. This is one of the largest operations in the country and she is the only CEO in Australian history that I can think of that reduced her salary down a fraction of what it had been under her predecessor.
“It is the first time that post offices have spoken positively about their CEOs of Australia Post and she gave them hope for the future. She had worked with owner/operator pharmacies which are owner/operated by law (albeit with corporate oversighting) and she was determined to keep the owner/operator model – clearly the most successful model which guaranteed local ownership throughout the suburbs and regional towns of Australia.
“Quite frankly she should had been sacked if she hadn’t given these star-performing, hardworking employees a bit of reward for their efforts.”
Mr Katter said, “Call me paranoid but I just can’t get it out of my head that the banking agencies were working so well that the banks were getting toey that there might be another powerful banking player in Australia. The last thing they want is any further competition, particularly from an organisation that has branches in every suburb and town in Australia, places they have long since abandoned.
“Christine has extraordinary capabilities – you don’t run a multi-billion-dollar corporation like Blackmores if you are a fool – was in her vary nature, threatening on the banking front. And a rabid free market government in Canberra whether LNP or ALP except for Rudd, I can’t name one of them that is ideologically bound to a free market mentality, has made continuous efforts to prioritise one of the last assets the Australian people own. Everything has been sold off with the vast bulk in the hands of foreigners.
“Christine did not strike me that she would agree to sell off the magical asset of Australia Post and/or bow to the whims and interests of the banks whose record was so bad that each of the banks did a huge backflip and apologised for their conduct.
“Well now we know the truth. We know now we have been misled and we know now who has misled us.
“We will get a vote in the Parliament and she will be reinstated. And if the Government doesn’t do that, then the way it is headed at the present moment, it will just be another nail in their coffin.”
Deflecting blame, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today her dismissal is now the subject of a senate inquiry.
Cairns News 