Just over a month ago, NZ Post representatives informed me that our local Ponsonby Post Office would be closing on Friday 4 July. I asked why and how this decision was made.
They said they had, “Looked closely at customer data and service patterns to decide where services are best placed. We believe the area is well serviced by existing postal outlets and to remove duplications of services we've decided to make this change.”
Yet, over the last month, we’ve heard loud and clear that the community does not want to lose these services and disagrees with the ‘belief’ that our area is well served by other postal outlets.
So, on Tuesday 23 June, I wrote directly to the CEO of NZ Post, David Walsh, copying the Hon. Simeon Brown (Minister for Auckland and Minister of State Owned Enterprises), urging them not to continue with this closure and to make transparent the 'customer data and service patterns’.
They made the decision to close, without any community consultation, and they can make the decision to not go ahead with that closure having heard the community’s needs.
Please don’t hesitate to contact my office if you want an update or to get involved or sign our open letter: Save Ponsonby Post Office
It’s worth noting that with the recent directive National’s Minister Brown has made to State Owned Enterprises (including NZ Post) to return greater profits, the Greens are deeply concerned that we can expect even more cuts to public services we all rely on and often take for granted.
Unfortunately, prioritising short-term profits over building and maintaining our public infrastructure and services is the explicit, clear focus of this Government. Nowhere is that more obvious than in their decisions to cut billions from our collective investment into our country’s wellbeing and services to pay for landlord and tobacco tax cuts.
The results of these decisions are obvious in the half a million New Zealanders using foodbanks each month, loss of 15,000 construction sector jobs, 191 New Zealanders leaving the country every single day and the stark contraction of consenting and building desperately needed new homes.
Ironically, for all the Government’s talk of ‘growth', any rational economist can point to this Government’s decisions to shred investment as knee-capping that very growth. If real-world indicators in people’s lives don’t mean much to you, just look at Treasury and Banks’ downgraded forecasts since the Government fired up the trickle-down shredder at the end of 2023.
That’s not how you build a country. It’s how you push it to breaking point.
The Greens know people need hope right now and a practical plan. That’s why in over just the last seven months, the Greens have released He Ara Anamata (our Emissions Reduction Plan), our Industrial Strategy, our Green Budget and, most recently, our Fiscal Strategy.
The point of the Fiscal Strategy is to show, according to even economic orthodoxy, our plans not only stack up but actually actively improve our financial stability and our country’s resilience. We’ve been delighted by the response from the financial and economic community, who understands the difference between borrowing to invest in growing our real-world economic capacity and resilience and borrowing to fund tax cuts.
As we wake up each day to concerning international developments, the Greens are clear that while we don’t have much control at all about what other countries do, we can ensure our country is principled, consistent, resilient and diplomatic.
We’ll keep holding the Government to account and putting forward the solutions and fighting for you locally. (Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
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