Christine Holgate is taking on her previous employer, attempting to force Australia Post to allow Global Express to take advantage of its rural and region infrastructure and services.
Holgate was famously forced to stand down from the Australian Post CEO role in November 2020, after a scandal erupted over the gifting of Cartier watches as performance bonuses.
Holgate felt she was a scapegoat, and later received a $1 million settlement, plus $100,000 in legal fees, from the national carrier – albeit without an admission of wrongdoing, or an apology.
She has since staged a remarkable turnaround for logistics business Global Express (formerly Toll), taking the company to cashflow positive in just eight months, with revenue for the year to March up 11 per cent, to $3.6 billion.
Global Express is now the main parcel delivery competitor to Australia Post, and Holgate is pushing for the national carrier to allow its regional post offices to be the default pick-up point for Global Express parcels, as well as locker access at community post offices.
Global Express is willing to pay commercial rates for both, but claims Australia Post is refusing to negotiate on these points, saying its vast network is what gives it a competitive advantage.
Holgate (above) says this deal is a win-win, and similar to one struck between rival DHL and AusPost.
Global Express says denying Global the same services may go against competitive neutrality rules.
Australia Post says it is “an open access network that works with dozens of operators, provided they pay the right fee for service.”
Global Express claims that, given last-mile delivery accounts for 30 per cent of all delivery carbon emissions, it doesn’t make sense to double-up on such services in rural and region areas. Building a second region and rural parcel network would be costly, and environmentally unsustainable.
DHL, FedEx and UPS have jointly lodged a formal competitive neutrality complaint against Australia Post, so it isn’t just Global questioning the government-funded carrier’s hold over the sector.
