Former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate has publicly attacked the organisation's chair, arguing she was "unlawfully" stood down before being abandoned to a "media firestorm."
Key points:
- Christine Holgate resigned after it was revealed several Australia Post staff had received Cartier watches
- Ms Holgate has made a lengthy submission to a Senate inquiry, criticising Australia Post's chair
- Australia Post has declined to comment
Ms Holgate resigned late last year after it was revealed four Australia Post employees had received Cartier watches, worth thousands of dollars each, as a reward for working to secure a lucrative deal with three of the major banks.
In a lengthy submission to a Senate inquiry, Ms Holgate accused Australia Post's chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo of forcing her out of the job "for no justified reason."
"The chair of Australia Post not only unlawfully stood me down, he lied repeatedly to the Australian people and to their parliament about his actions," Ms Holgate said.
"Time after time he has made statements that I had agreed to stand down when I had done no such thing.
"He then abandoned me to a media firestorm that he and others had created and cut me off from resources, despite knowing that these events had caused me to seek mental health care and medication."
In the submission, Ms Holgate accused Mr Di Bartolomeo of treating her "like a criminal" when she had committed no crime, arguing the purchase of the watches was legal, in line with Australia Post's reward policies and "celebrated" within the organisation at the time.
Supplied: Australia Post
)She said she offered to take annual leave while an investigation was carried out, however that offer was refused.
"To this date, I have not received any explanation why I was forced to stand down other than the minister and Prime Minister insisted on it and that in itself, does not have legal standing," she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Parliament at the time the watches were revealed that he was "appalled" by the purchases.
"The chief executive has been instructed to stand aside and, if she doesn't wish to do that, she can go," he said.
Ms Holgate said she later offered her resignation after "the most harrowing 10 days" of her career and that her letter was leaked to the media before he responded to her.
"He then made his own statement which was and remains false and then hours later sent me a counteroffer — itself confirmation that no agreement had been reached," she said.
"The chair's counteroffer to my resignation, had I agreed, would have prevented me working for 12 months, I would have received no pay for my separation and it would have prevented me from speaking about any of Australia Post's actions past, present and future, including those that may be unlawful.
"To this date, I have signed no deed of release with Australia Post, despite my many requests to resolve this matter."
A report prepared by law firm Maddocks found there was "no indication of dishonesty, fraud, corruption or intentional misuse of Australia Post funds by any individual involved in the matters relating to the purchase and gifting of the Cartier watches."
Australia Post declines to respond
Australia Post declined to comment, instead pointing to its own submission to the inquiry which it said it would fully cooperate with.
That submission included comments from an email it said Ms Holgate sent to executive team members on November 2, 2020, saying she had made "the very difficult decision to resign, hoping the organisation can get fully focused on serving our customers".
It also pointed to a statement released by Australia Post later that day on behalf of the chair, saying Ms Holgate had resigned, "effective immediately."
"Ms Holgate did not, at that time, raise concerns with the chair's public statement referring to her resignation, nor did she retract her public statement," Australia Post's submission said.
The Senate inquiry is due to report by the end of this month.
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2021-04-06 10:07:04Z
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