To the Honourable President and Members of the Senate in Parliament assembled:

The petition of the undersigned shows that:

The costs arising from Australia’s participation in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) treaty are not transparently reported, making it difficult to determine the true situation.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Australia Post bears the full burden of these costs. This burden is ultimately passed on to Australian businesses and consumers through higher parcel rates, effectively forcing local businesses to subsidise their international competitors.

The UPU system was established long before the rise of global e-commerce and could not have anticipated the tens of millions of low-value parcels now entering Australia from overseas each year.

The primary beneficiaries of these artificially cheap inbound parcels are all Australians as consumers. Therefore, the cost of meeting Australia’s UPU obligations should be shared fairly by all Australians through Consolidated Revenue, not borne by a single government-owned company and, by extension, Australian businesses.

What is happening now is contrary to the spirit of fair competition and is contributing to the closure of Australian businesses that pay taxes and employ Australians.

Your petitioners ask that the Senate:

Require detailed and transparent reporting of the actual costs to Australia Post of Australia’s participation in the UPU.

Inquire into whether these costs are unfairly borne by Australia Post and, ultimately, Australian business.

Recommend that these costs be transferred to and drawn from the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Revenue, ensuring fair competition, transparency, and sustainability for Australia Post and for Australian businesses.