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Union wants Australia Post board sacked over mooted plan to privatise parcel deliveries

The entire Australia Post board will also face the Senate inquiry on Tuesday.

The entire Australia Post board will also face the Senate inquiry on Tuesday.

The posties’ union has called for the entire Australia Post board to be sacked over a mooted plan to privatise parcel deliveries.

The Boston Consulting Group report has been a key bone of contention at Senate hearings into the bitterly disputed departure of former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has ruled out selling Australia Post, pledging it will remain 100 per cent owned by the government.

Communications Electrical Plumbing Union national secretary Greg Rayner said the BCG review of the organisation presented a danger to 8000 jobs and 230 suburban post offices.

“If we’re going to fix the issues plaguing Australia Post the entire board needs to go,” he told the inquiry on Tuesday.

“We need to start from scratch so we can get Australia’s postal network back on track.”

Mr Rayner said the proposal would have been disastrous for regional communities, small business and families of postal workers.

“That this was to be the first step in breaking up Australia Post and selling parts of it to the private sector is now clear.”

The CEPU is calling for new board members to be replaced through an independent process.

Union president Shane Murphy demanded the Morrison government release the $1.3 million consultants’ report to reveal the full scale of plans.

“Documents like that don’t just magically get put before the cabinet unless they have some standing,” he said.

Australia Post’s entire board will also face the hearing later on Tuesday.

Ms Holgate says she was unlawfully stood down after it emerged she gifted four Cartier watches worth $20,000 to executives who clinched a lucrative deal.

The former chief executive has previously told the hearing she was unpopular with the government over her resistance to major changes to the parcel business.

Director Tony Nutt, who was the Liberal Party’s former federal and Victorian director and worked in senior roles for John Howard, will come under scrutiny for his conversations with Ms Holgate.

Chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo will make his second appearance in the past two weeks.

Former Abbott government minister and Liberal senator Michael Ronaldson and former Queensland LNP president Bruce McIver are also listed to appear.

Fellow director Deidre Willmott was former WA Liberal premier Richard Court’s chief of staff.

At a hearing earlier in April, Ms Holgate claimed Jan West was the only independent board member.

-AAP

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