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| Australia Post plans massive Aussie ripoff. |
In a once in 200 years outrageous move, the cost of basic postage in Australia is likely to jump by a staggering 42.8 percent.
And the mastermind behind this anti-consumer move is the man who wants us to believe he could be a breath of fresh air as the next Prime Minister of Australia.
Yes, it's Malcolm Turnbull who wants to slug ordinary Australians a king's ransom to send a letter across town.
Malcolm Turnbull is really no different from Tony Abbott - just a slightly classier, anti-worker, anti-Australian, conservative millionaire politician who wouldn't know what Struggle Street is or what a Bundy clock looks like.
ABC News reports: Malcolm Turnbull confirms plans for two-tier mail service, wants postage stamp cost to rise from 70c to $1
The price of a standard postage stamp could rise from 70 cents to $1 and mail will take longer to arrive, under a plan announced by the Government today.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia Post would introduce a two-speed mail service, with a regular service operating two days slower than the current delivery speed, and a premium-rate priority service.
At a meeting of Coalition MPs this morning, Mr Turnbull explained the plan, saying there needed to be greater transparency from Australia Post - what he called an "open kimono" approach.
Mr Turnbull said the two-tier system would not be introduced until September at the earliest.
Australia Post is also set to lodge an application with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to increase the price of a stamp from 70 cents to $1.
The ACCC could knock back the application.
A 60 cent stamp price will remain in place for pensioners and Commonwealth concession card holders, and Christmas cards will still cost 65 cents to send.
"Australia Post is facing significant structural decline as people choose to communicate over the internet," Mr Turnbull said in a statement.
"Australians are now sending 1 billion fewer letters a year than they were in 2008, with letters losses rising to more than $300 million a year.
"While Australia Post has been able to offset these losses by growing its parcels business, losses in letters are now so large that they are overwhelming all profitable areas of the business.
"Without reform total projected company losses could reach $6.6 billion over the next 10 years, with letters losses of $12.1 billion."
He said that despite the decrease, the postal service was still required to provide a Monday to Friday delivery service to most homes.
Mr Turnbull also flagged that the changes could mean job cuts.
"Obviously there are implications for jobs in these changes," he told Parliament.
He added that Australia Post has a policy of trying to redeploy staff and views redundancy as a "last resort".
Last week Australia Post announced a 56 per cent dive in its first half profits, with losses due to letters delivery doubling to more than $150 million.
The company did not publish a full breakdown of its accounts, but it said revenue from its parcel service was up 4 per cent, and revenue for its business parcels service it was up 5 per cent.
