Postal management is “pricing its way out of difficulty” without considering the work done by operators in the lucrative bulk mail sector, Australia’s PIAA claims.

The association’s chief executive Bill Healey says the monopoly Australia Post “cannot be left to run down its postal services through price hikes as it ignores the need for greater efficiencies”.

Commenting on a report by Boston Consulting Group that predicts the utility will lose $6 billion over the next decade, he says Post needs to bring stakeholders together in a restructuring process: “Mail is a primary form of communication affecting every person in Australia, several key industries and tens of thousands of employees,” he says.

Its statutory monopoly and right to issue postage stamps also brings significant responsibilities to the public and commercial sectors.

Healey says Post’s operations had caused “significant concern” since 2011 when ACCC prices surveillance was removed. “This allowed it to raise the price of its lucrative bulk mail sector without taking into account the value  of efficiencies provided by bulk mail operators who do all the pre-sort work,” he says.

“Post can’t be allowed to price increase its way out of difficulty just because it has a monopoly. All this does is discourage use of mail by businesses and individuals which in turn drives down mail usage rates – the very issue Post has done and is now complaining about.

“Our view is that the full potential of this channel is being stifled because of the Post’s high cost structure.”

Healey says PIAA had met communications minister Malcolm Turnbull, gaining an undertaking that Post to consult with its stakeholders, “but so far this has been very limited – and the clock is ticking”.