Australia Post refuses to change Gracemere Post Code
Published on 15 May 2018
Rockhampton Regional Council has labelled Australia Post’s decision not to change Gracemere’s post code as a massive disappointment for the community.
Councillor Ellen Smith said many Gracemere residents would be frustrated with the decision from Australia Post which was discussed at today’s Council Meeting.
“For years Gracemere residents have called for change and to be told that the status quo is good enough will be tough to swallow for a community that has fought so hard for progress,” Cr Smith said.
“Council has stood with Gracemere residents on this issue and we have done everything in our power to try and get the outcome that community wanted.
“Rockhampton Regional Council conducted a survey of Gracemere residents last year with 69 per cent of respondents supporting a change from the current 4702 to join Rockhampton’s 4700.
“The survey was run after community group Gracemere Community Voice presented a petition to council asking to join 4700 as previous attempts to get a new post code had been unsuccessful.
“Australia Post has now said changing the post code to 4700 would result in a worse delivery experience for Gracemere residents and that is their only consideration,” Cr Smith said.
“Gracemere Voice has always maintained it was about more than that – it was the flow on effects which applied to going for a home loan, insuring your property and delays with freight being shipped by other companies.
“While all post codes are managed by Australia Post and it is at its absolute discretion to do what they will, the response from the organisation to Council’s submission is not in alignment with community expectations.
“From here, the next step is that Council has agreed to petition the Federal Government to remove the allocation of post codes from the domain of Australia Post. We believe the post codes have a broader role in the community and the community is not best served with Australia Post as the adjudicator.
“We now intend to discuss the matter further with the Federal Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd.”