I see Pauline, still refereed to as a 'fish and chip shop owner', has claimed the scalp of the decade, with the resignation of the CEO of Oz Post.

Well done I say. Let's hope she goes after the board members who allowed this ridiculous situation to exists, despite their best efforts to keep it under wraps.

I would also like to think those involved in offering their approval from within the LNP also fall on their collective swords.

It makes you wonder how our pensioners who have been cut off feel, the 'forgotten generation' as they realise there is more behind their loss of support and life long betrayal.

There must be profit in telegrams , it should be brought back. You get a crackly piece of yellow paper in special text to cut costs.
Hand delivered on a pushbike too.

So Pauline HANSON was a mere Fish 'n Chips shop proprietor eh ? So says our esteemed very recent Oz Post, CEO, a Ahmen FAHOUR Esq. Obviously the gentleman was attempting to juxtapose a mere fish shop owner with that of the head honcho of Australia Post.

He was obviously so rancorous about the public's vocal perception that he was just another grossly overpaid, government 'fat cat', he said with 'lips of string', he felt pressurized by public opinion to resign. Why, ostensibly to spend more time with his family I expect ?

Curiously one of Australia's most revered Labor Prime Minister's before entering Federal politics, was no less a mortal then the youngest, fully qualified first class engine driver in the State of NSW. His name of course was, Joseph Benedict (Ben) CHIFLEY. Humble fons et origo mean nothing, other than to perhaps build character ?

o sung wu,

He dropped his practised guard when he turned on her, playing the race card too.

o sung wu, in your previous occupation you must have witnessed that happen a number of times, where a very hard nut allows his grandiosity/pride/boasting and sheer vindictiveness a run in the open and the interviewing detective or a judge and jury sit up, take notice and regard it as an unmasking and the turning point of the case.

No way anyone would ever want that fellow to imagine that they have ever cut across his bows, even by accident. His staff, apart from the toadying ones, must be quietly celebrating his departure, delayed though it is.

Got to give credit to Pauline H for having the guts to come back at him. There are three major parties in Queensland now and Pauline heads one of them.

A bloke that turned a net loss into a giant profit. Will not be replaced in a hurry. Specially if they are going to pay peanuts in a corporate world. No doubt there will be ways and means around it.

You can hear the expense account papers rattling off the printers.
"Hey Malcolm , he got $5mill , that's more like it."

"Australia Post provides postal services in Australia and its overseas territories. "Australia Post" is the trading name, Australian Postal Corporation (formerly the Australian Postal Commission) is the Australian-Government-owned entity responsible for the services."

As Aust. Post is Government owned why is it competing with local small businesses and selling lollies, music discs, entertainment videos, stationery, greeting cards, printer paper etc., etc?

One would think that Government could be helping small businesses not competing with them.

That's how I see it when SBS runs ads in competition with private TV.
ABC and SBS should run special interest shows which are not profitable but instead seem to make exact copies of private TV , again undercutting business.

Hi there LEOJ...

You're right, the number of times you'd pull in some aggressive loud mouth generally over some insignificant matter, they'd start to try and intimidate you by claiming they know (personally) the Commissioner or some other notable identity, in an effort to frightening you into cutting 'em loose or something.

The very closest I ever came, when I was still 'bright eyed and bushy tailed' as it were, was not a case of claiming who they knew, but something far far worse, bordering on corruption - actually I've mentioned the incident once before on the Forum. It was a criminal matter, specifically 'knowingly concerned'.

The antagonist was this utterly stunning looking woman who used all manner of her feminine charms and 'other' attributes, as a strong inducement to aid me into seeing my way clear to exculpate her from any complicity in the brief of evidence that I was in the process of assembling. Especially that precise section that was particularizing her substantial part in the matter. Talk about a 'femme fatale' you better believe it. It was close, but no cigar thankfully.

Dear rehctub,

Oh come off it mate. Pauline was only one of many calling his salary obscene. It was obviously unsustainable for a government looking to slash public sector workforces.

But here is the thing, he was getting private sector wages because Australia Post was corporatised to within an inch of its life as it was prepared by both governments to be sold off when they thought they might get away with it or the budget became too dire.

He is the very example of how private sector values serve to stuff up public monopolies when they are set for privatisation.

This bloke oversaw massive losses, doubling of letter prices, and the backward slide of delivery standards all on a 5 million dollar salary. All the while he painted a picture of a a loss making letter business being propped up by a profit making parcel division. It was all creative accounting done by not crediting the parcel division's use of the letter division's infrastructure.

Our local postal contractor is lucky to make $15 per hour. He has been screwed as have many other workers. In turn we have been screwed by poorer and more expensive services which have driven down volumes in a self fulfilling prophecy. The country has been screwed because higher prices have eroded the universal service obligations of Australia Post.

Other countries like the US have principled public sector head leading their postal services. We needed such principles at work for us instead we got an overpaid corporation type who have left us where we are now.

Aust. Post certainly is competing with business, & successfully, but at a cost.

They have sacked quite a few pasties, but when people stop sending letters, & use text or emails, there is not much point having people wandering around delivering none existent letters.

Interestingly they had to privatise the phone system to be able to reduce excess staff, so he has done well there.

They have for some time been competing with courier companies, & quite successfully. I now chose Aust. Post now for delivery of my large, bulky but light remote control plane kits. They are both slightly cheaper, & faster than the previous used couriers.

This has come at a cost to some. Our mail service is by private contractor. Our local long serving contractor, who has always used a "postie" motor bike was told he would have to buy a van to be able to handle the new courier home delivery business. He was not in a position to do this, & lost his business.

That is a pity, but it is probably only these changes that has kept Aust. Post viable. However no matter if he was doing a great job. paying Ahmen FAHOUR that sort of money is ridiculous. Keep it up Pauline.

Dear Hasbeen,

So when Turnbull appointed Ziggy as chair of the NBN who in turn appointed a new CEO at triple the salary ($3 million plus) of the previous head you were against this also?

o sung wu,
Pauline probably makes good 'fish and chips' but she make a far better 'Attila" the "Slayer".
She has my vote as well as my back.
Back in those days when we needed a partner who you could trust with your back someone with the front of this woman would have been my choice.
Up here in QLD you wouldn't believe how scared the pollies are and how fast the are running to cover their asses.
Now we are having 4 new seats and a massive realignment of others so much so that home base politicians are becoming no based.
Good to hear from you mate
chrisgaff

The fact Aus. Post were losing money hand over fist, until Mr FAHOUR came along and completely transmuted their operating practices, is surprising. Given that I/We receive quite an amount of mail as a consequence of Ebay Auctions, and purchasing Numismatics material, and I can't begin to count the number of Stamps of high, face-value, yet to be cancelled.

Today was a prime example. One package contained two Numismatic catalogues, and another, a much smaller NZ catalogue. Weight plus Registration fee amounted to $5.00, requiring an attachment of a $3 and $2 stamps. Neither were cancelled upon receipt. The other packet, contained the NZ Numismatic Catalogue, requiring a $3 stamp, again uncancelled, though from a different origin altogether. A total of $8 of uncancelled postage stamps, quite capable of being re-used again.

Furthermore, we quite often receive ordinary mail bearing a $1 stamp, again not cancelled. I can only wonder who is responsible for ensuring masses of revenue are not lost to the Post Office, through simply neglecting to cancel these revenue stamps?

Small potatos I'd agree, in the scheme of things. But if these loses were extrapolated right across the board, you've really got to wonder, how Aus. Post ever made a quid in it's entire existence.

Dear o sung wu;

You wrote;

“The fact Aus. Post were losing money hand over fist, until Mr FAHOUR came along and completely transmuted their operating practices, is surprising.”

Well it might be suprising but it certainly isn't a fact.

He had been at the helm for six years before managing to record Australia Post's first loss in over 30 years and it was a whopping $222 million dive into the red.

“The national postal service made a profit of $16 million in the six months to December, after posting a $222 million loss in the 2014/15 financial year, its first loss in more than 30 years.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator/australia-post-profit-falls-sharply/news-story/94bcc121af1b8caf4e17a4fd302c59c3?nk=13e4ad793ad2d02fcd57d8fad318865b-1487932724

I'm interested to know why you thought it had been losing money hand over fist before he came on board. How do you think these impressions filter out of the media you consume?

One thing of note about Australia Post is its high rate of union membership, particularly among base rate employees, sorters, delivery and counter staff etc, around 90% are members of the CEPU.
Thanks to the efforts of a strong and diligent union, all employees at post have benefited from a excellent union negotiated enterprise agreement. That agreement is presently being renegotiated and without that union involvement employees could expect nothing more than 'coffee shop' wages and conditions as determined by some fat cat at 'Unfair Work Australia'.
It is amusing that the CEPU has set the wage point at a 14% increase being the "benchmark" set by the pay increase granted to CEO Ahmen Fahour in the last year. Hard to argue with.

http://www.eba9.com.au/

Steel, Pauline is the one in the spot light. She is also the one who has not given up the fight, despite the usual anti Muslim crap she has been branded with over the matter. So I do think it was here scalp.

As for the NBN, nobody in their right mind would have touched that with a barge pole without some huge financial carrot because Turnbull inherited a real basket case.

Paul. You do know that wages are paid from profits, and to simply suggest a wage rise of 14% just has no merit.

As for the FWC 'fat cat' as you refer to, this person, or persons, have read the submissions from all sides and decided that the ridiculous penalty rates forcing many out of business were just that, ridiculous and totally unsustainable. Quite frankly, I’m amazed because I really didn’t think they would go that way, although I knew they had to. Three cheers from me.

Why would an atheist object to cutting penalty rates for Sundays?

G'day there CHRISGAFF1000...

It's good to hear from you Chris, I hope you're OK up there in sunny Qld. Yes, I too like the 'cut of her jib' to borrow an old Navy line (I think - HASBEEN?) she speaks plainly to a point where all can understand her, and she doesn't pretend to be an intellectual either which as another appealing feature about her as well.

Should she and her Party ever become a dominant feature in our national political landscape I believe she'll really put the cat among the pigeons, with both the LNP and Labor Party. Politics in Australia is such a movable feast, one wonders if there exists someone or some group or party can come along and manage to save our sorry souls, and stare down this intractable devisive Senate.

And I couldn't care a fig whether it be the LNP of Labor as long as it's someone with determination and nouce. Another John HOWARD or Bob HAWKE, Paul KEATING, anyone except Messrs TURNBULL or SHORTIN would do?

Hi there STEELEREDUX...

I believe I heard it from MR FAHOUR'S own mouth when He gave his valedictory press conference yesterday ? Thereafter the Press Conference which had been broadcast live on 2GB, there were several opinions voiced, by two of the 2GB broadcasters in the afternoon, both of whom had commented upon Mr FAHOUR'S own statement; that in his own opinion he'd done a remarkably good job during his role at the helm of Oz Post ? I'm not quite sure whether that is what it is you're alluding too?

However I think, what it is you're suggesting, I either misheard, misconstrued or misunderstood, what it was Mr FAHOUR said at his press conference. Alternatively what either or both the two, 2GB broadcaster's had said ? I don't know. But my new default position is thus; whenever we discuss an issue I should accept I've again been proven wrong by you, STEELEREDUX thank you for again kindly correcting my erroneous views.

It was difficult to pay a public servant such a fortune especially in such a shrinking market.

Aus post should be privatised, and the sale price used to build infrastructure that the country really needs.

Hi Shadow, once again I have to correct yet another one of your errors. Employees of Australia Post are not public servants, Post is an autonomous corporation answerable to a board of directors appointed by the share holder. The only government interference allowed is the setting of the uniform postal rate for letters presently $1, as required by the Constitution.

It was a surprise that Malcolm got into a tizzy recently about Ahmen Fahour pay packet, when it was public knowledge for all, was Malcolm asleep on the job again, maybe suffering from the after effects of that $5,000 birthday cake he bought for Julie Bishop at the taxpayers expense, an act of a true socialists. Being a 'free marketer' as you both are, you two should be applauding Mr Fahour for his enterprise in obtaining such a good deal for himself in an unfettered market.

As for sell offs of government enterprise, so many of the juicy plums have been sold, with no perceived benefit to the previous owners, the Australian public. Interesting that the once publicly owned, and very profitable Commonwealth Bank was sold, again can anyone point to the benefits, No! Com Bank is headed by Ian Narev on a wage of $12.3 million, not jumping up and down about that one are we.

"China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been increased to more than $51.5 billion."
That's peanuts as Oz owes $1.9 trillion. Probably Malcolm could sell
the top jobs for heaps and where would Pauline be then , eh.

Paul,

A full time head of an entity is entirely owned by the government that is appointed by the government is by definition a public servant. The entity may be structured differently, but he and all the workers are government employees. (almost certainly why is so unionised)

Secondly, the sale of government owned assets (especially that are no longer be providers of "public goods"), not only provide the government a huge chunk of cash that can be used to build assets that actually are "public goods". And there are very good reasons why the government should not be in direct competition with private companies providing similar services.

Dear Shadow Minister,

It is quite astounding how much you conservative elitists tie yourself in knots trying to spin this.

It is a universal truism that as government monopolies are privatised the remuneration distribution within the organisation shifts with the vast majority of the workforce required to do more for less and upper management receiving skyrocketing salaries.

Both Australia Post and the NBN are classic examples of this.

However there is usually very little benefit to the ordinary citizen and often the result is markedly detrimental.

For you to be claiming that Australia Post operates under public servant rather than private sector rules is posturing and spin.

Tell you what how about you give your best example of where you thought privatisation has worked to benefit this nation.

SR,

It is amazing how you progressives continually cock it up.

Aus Post and NBN are 100% government owned and so have not been privatised, and are thus examples of government owned monopolies that perform badly. It is a truism that privatised organisations become more efficient, with employees being more productive and often better remunerated, providing customers with better and cheaper services.

A good comparison of this is the privatisation of the Commonwealth bank that not only provided the Labor government with a huge financial payout that benefited taxpayers, and went on to become a successful company, compared to the collapses of the Victorian and South Australian State Banks.

STEELEREDUX...

I couldn't give a bugger whether Oz Post is Public or privately run, all I know the remuneration this man was receiving, when all I've seen is declining services is positively obscene ! I recall the days when we received two deliveries. A postage stamp was (generally speaking) affordable, our local Postie was more of a friend, then a letter carrier, and a Christmas wouldn't go by, without our Postie being laden with all manner of gifts and bottled beverages.

But of course we no longer have leaders with the capability and proficiency of John CURTIN, Ben CHIFLY, Bob MENZIES, Bob HAWKE, Paul KEATING, and John HOWARD ? Though, we do have the current incumbent, Mr Malcolm TURNBULL or Mr Wm. SHORTIN as a political alternative ? Wow.

o sung wu
Steady on ol mate you'll have a heart attack oops that's what the bastards want isn't it?
All the critics to get so worked up that they have a breakdown and cease to be a threat.
What a world we are going to leave our children.
There is a 17 year old quarter caste living near me and fit as a Malley Bull and when I asked him why he doesn't get a job at Maccas or like he said don;t want to work and I don't have to because it's not cultural.
Another local kid tells me that he doesn't have to work because he has ADHD or Asperger's or both and his mother tells me she gets the carers pension to look after him while he gets the disability pension.
Needless to say they dress in designer clothes and she drives a new 4x4. Am I angry?

Bring on Pauline. Address the pension rorts and the cash economy.
Check out the indigenous and refugee freeloaders playing poker machines in the pubs and clubs.
Why in Gods name did we ever work?

yep the welfare mentality certainly adds to Greens/Labour voters (at least for those who bother to turn up to vote).

Hi there CHRISGAFF1000...

G'day Chris, you have to wonder why it was we did all the OT Shifts, when most of it was gobbled up in additional taxes, paying into Super. Once again the taxman was gleefully standing just outside your front door ready to confiscate most of it for additional taxes. You pay tax on everything you earn each and every fortnight, and you (willingly) pay it again, when you draw down your fortnightly police pension, I simply don't get it Chris.

The only income they don't touch, is my DVA 100%. However should you be silly enough to invest it, they'll tax you on any income derived from that investment ? The old 'blood from a stone trick' I presume ?

Anyway take it easy ol' man, perhaps those two enterprising lads you spoke of earlier, might be prepared to teach you and I their lesson, on how to live comfortably on other taxpayers earnings?

Dear Shadow Minister,

Oh good lord, really?

I said “as government monopolies are privatised”. Both are going through the transition from publicly owned to being privatised.

If you don't have a decent answer then admit it rather than reach for yet another red herring.

And are you really going to make the case that privatising the Commonwealth Bank was good for Australians? Good luck on that one my friend.

Not having a bank owned by the government has meant giving the Big 4 licence to secure obscene profits stripped from citizens and businesses and it is a blight on our capitalism. The do not produce wealth rather skim it from the productive areas of our economy.

State premiers Bannon and Cain both followed Keatings financial deregulation edicts allowing the two state banks to adopt far less conservative lending practices and both came to grief as a result. Keating unashamedly used this as an excuse to privatise the Commonwealth Bank for which we got 7.8 billion dollars. For the 5 years up until the sale we receive a modest $100 million a year into the federal coffers from the bank. As soon as it was sold fees and charges skyrocketed and services were dramatically cut with the other 3 banks doing the same. The following 3 years saw profits over 5 billion dollars stripped from our economy to deliver to grasping shareholders and highly paid executives at the Commonwealth. There is little doubt that had it remained in public hands Australians would not now be forced to fill the bottomless coffers of the banking cartel with money stripped from ordinary from their household budgets and their businesses.

How about you try another example. The privatisation of the Australian Wheat Board perhaps?

Dear o sung wu,

Firstly mate regarding your earlier post I am more than happy to get pulled up on any facts I present. I come here to be challenged not to have my evidence blindly accepted nor my views reinforced in some likeminded gabfest.

Secondly if you think a fully privatised postal service will mean better services then you sir are a fool. The services you and I were used to in days gone by have disappeared primarily because the organisation is run now on corporate rather than utility, grounds complete with obscene salaries for the executives.

Most Australians were prepared to wear a bit extra for the cost of a stamp if it allowed a letter to be sent anywhere in this nation for the same price regardless of distance. It spoke to the egalitarian ethic we use to have. Well that is now under dire threat. The big investment banks are circling and want to get their hands on Australia Post and chuck fairness out the bloody window. Are you really going to be there cheering them on?

Finally you know whenever you raise your police pension I will remind all and sundry that as a NSW copper you were on the most generous public servant scheme bar the pollies devised by man. Further I will remind you that as a public servant you got paid from the taxes of the rest of us.

SR,

I will stick the dictionary definition of privatise that 99% of the world recognises ie "transfer (a business, industry, or service) from public to private ownership and control."

As both the NBN and Aus Post are entirely government owned, they have not been privatised in any way. That they have been restructured to run in a fashion that mimics the real world is largely to keep the internal affairs out of the hands of bureaucrats.

The two state banks that collapsed were due to incompetent management, that public servants are prone to in the business world. That Keating got >50 years worth of profits for the CBA showed how badly it was being managed as well. As for bank services and fees increasing, that probably had more to do with the change in regulations than the privatisation.

Banks borrow funds from investors to lend to the public. Their financial viability enables them to borrow at low rates that they pass onto customers. A bank that does not make a profit will fail and be unable to help "the people" in any way. I find it sad that you are obviously such a dyed in the wool socialist that you equate profits with theft.

The CBA privatisation was a success in pretty much every way except for those that espouse the politics of envy.

The US postal system has recorded staggering losses since its heady days of surplus ended in 2006. It has recorded 10 straight years of loss, culminating in a record loss of $15.9 billion in 2012. US post is not unique in this department with most of the worlds postal services, both private and public having suffered the same sorts of results in recent years, driven by the declining letter business which had peeked in 2008, Australia Post being the leading exception to this rule.

The only disaster year for Australia Post was 2014/15 when a $222 operating loss was recorded, it is now back in the black. The losses can be attributed to a rapid decline in the letter business, with a 10% down turn in 2015 alone, and this was despite heavy investment in latter handing infrastructure by Post. Australia Post leads the market by a mile, in the very profitable parcel delivery business, despite new and strong private competition. It is the only service that offers a $7.60 500g parcel delivery anywhere in Australia, try getting that from private enterprise! While you are at it see if they will deliver a small letter/parcel up to 125g from say Strawn in Tasmania to Broome in WA, actually between ant two points in Australia, for $2. Try getting Metropolitan parcel delivery from a private operator, up to 22kg for $10.40! Fat chance. GO FOR IT SHADOW.

What would happen with privatization, is there would be more emphasis place on the 'user pay' system. Any private operator would want total control of the profitable parcel and other services, while wanting government subsidy of the letter loss business. The reality is the big users of the letter business are corporations, telco's, energy corps, mail out business etc, they would be the ones to benefit from government subsidy, not the little old granny posting Xmas cards.

STEELEREDUX...

Perhaps sir, may I respectfully suggest you read my contribution more carefully when I said inter alia '...I couldn't give a bugger whether Oz Post is public or privately run...'. And to read anymore into that precise statement illustrates to me, 'then you Sir are the fool'.

Apropos my police pension as we've discussed on previous occasions, it may well be a good scheme, however we surely do earn it. Or would you like to dispute that as well ? I should also remind you I drew a reference to my pension, with another contributor herein, and by the way you forgot to include my DVA 100% disability pension as well. And that my friend is tax free.

As you can see STEELEREDUX my death will prove an utter windfall for the Oz taxpayers - no more pension, no more DVA 100%, no further free medical, dental, and other ancillary health care benefits. A substantial fiscal euphoria for the Oz taxpayer, I would've thought.

And do you honestly believe for a moment, that I'm somehow so damn ungrateful and unappreciative for the enormous financial and medical advantages that I regularly receive from our forlorn Aussie taxpayers, when compared with other vets, with similar military service? If you do STEELEREDUX; then again Sir, it is you who's the fool.

As an aside, I've always contended, the Aussie Veterans are probably the best cared for Vets. in the Western World, when juxtaposed with other similar Nations.

Paul,

That Auspost has many assets at its disposal free of charge is a huge indirect subsidy that reduces its running costs, yet is competing against businesses that aren't subsidized, and have to meet profit margins to satisfy their shareholders.

Flogging Aus post would go a long way to paying off labor's debt.

SteeleRedux, "It spoke to the egalitarian ethic we use to have. Well that is now under dire threat"

Egalitarianism was weakened and finally displaced as a sociopolitical ideology and worthy aim, by the dominance of feminism and the other exclusive, selfish 'isms', that are incompatible with egalitarianism.

Equally, feminism and the other exclusive, gravy train 'isms' are incompatible with humanism. Feminists are very quick to sledge, disrupt and oust any support for egalitarianism or humanism from among their own ranks. The reasons they do that are fairly obvious.

I believe it is preferable to focus on the desirability of reinstating community benefit as a factor to be always considered when formulating public policy. There is a lot of money and effort being wasted through poor cooperation among the various sectors of government and NGOs and the like. All vie for territory to protect their income stream of government grants. So others in the same field are construed as competitors. The feminists white-knuckled grasp on 'DV' is an example.

Again the feminists and gravy train will stridently object, but they have a very narrow focus on their own self-entitlement and there is no escaping that.

Shadow; "That Auspost has many assets at its disposal free of charge"

AP has been a corporation since the 1990's, as the Lovely Pauline would say...Please E-X-P-L-A-I-N!

Paul,

I know that the greens are economically challenged, so I will use small words.

Profit = revenue - costs = price x volume -costs

Major costs =
operational costs = labour + electricity etc
overhead costs = machinery, rental, interest etc

Which do you think Auspost got a lot of for free?

Most of their premises were transferred to Auspost, and so their rental / interest on property is very low. Something that their competitors don't get.

Shadow, again I have to educate you, if you keep this up I'll have to stand you in the Dummy Corner for the rest of the lesson.

Around 3,000 Australia Post outlets are LPO's that is licensed post offices, operated by a licencee under normal commercial operating rules, paying rent etc. All new corperate outs and many old establishment operate out of rented commercial premises. To say. "

"Most of their premises were transferred to Auspost" is totally untrue. The same applies to sorting facilities which have been eztablished long after corporation.

Another goof like that and it will be the Dummies Corner for you.

In a magnanimous gesture to its licencee's and the general public Australia Post made $40 million available in financial assistance to struggling LPO's, mainly in country areas, something it did not have to do in the dog eat dog world of free markets. Could you see Woolworths or Coles assisting their suppliers. Not bloody likely, in fact they have a track record of doing the opposite

Next topic Shadow, The Commonwealth Bank recorded a $4.9 billion first half profit. please tell what ongoing benefits are the previous owners of the bank, us the taxpayers, receiving from its sale? In fact what benefits did we receive in the first place, and don't tell me it was used to buy birthday cakes for Liberal MP's like Julie Bishop!

When these conserves, and I include Labor in this, sell off a juicy public asset like the CBA, they tout it as a win for the mum and dad investors. The fact is they sell them off at a bargain basement price, and the ownership soon filters away from those mums and dads and into the hands of the big corporations
CBA 14.9% HSBC owned (foreign bank), 11.6% JP Morgan (foreign owner) the list goes on, Mum and Dad diddly squat!

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was set by an act of Parliament in 1911, started operations in 1912. The only injection of taxpayer money into the bank was 20,000 pounds ($40,000) as start up capital. The government bank operated successfully until 1991-96) when it was fully privatized at a overall sale price of $8 billion. It has returned record profits year after year ever since. The bank operated freely through the Great Depression of the 1930's, whilst many private banks went to the wall! Until 1960 the CBA also operated as Australia's central bank, at no cost to the government, a bit like Australia Post today. The 'Free Marketers' will sell off all the juicy plums, at no benefit, and leave the taxpayers with the mill stones around their necks.

Paul,

I have no desire to join you in the Dummy's corner. Clearly it's gone over your head that the 3000 franchisees that you mention are entirely independently owned and run and are not actually part of Austpost.

Are you going to be silly enough to tell me that Auspost inherited not a shred of property?

http://www.afr.com/real-estate/australia-post-chief-ahmed-fahour-to-sell-historic-gpos-20160508-gopkob

Paul,

That the CBA has grown substantially in the 25 years since privatisation is largely due to it being privatised.

There is nothing stopping any government starting a new bank, other than they would be smashed by the experts.