Postal Industry Ombudsman

Legislation establishing the Postal Industry Ombudsman (PIO) was passed by Federal Parliament on 29 March 2006.  The PIO will provide a mechanism for customers to resolve disputes with Australia Post, and possibly customer complaints against other postal operators.

Representatives of the PIO recently addressed a meeting of the POAAL Board, which provided an excellent opportunity to discuss how the PIO will interact with Licensees and Contractors.  A report will be published in Postal News.

The first discussion paper regarding a PIO in Australia was published in 2002, and POAAL has supported the concept from the beginning. POAAL made a detailed submission in response to the discussion paper. It was pleasing to see that many of POAAL's suggestions were incorporated into the PIO model.It is POAAL's hope that the PIO will lead to an even more reliable and professional postal service in Australia.