Australia Post chief executive Paul Graham has rejected accusations that he misled a Senate committee about plans to close post offices, saying a leaked proposal was still at an “embryonic” stage and had not become an active programme.
Mr Graham faced sustained questioning in Canberra on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, after documents outlining a plan to reshape the postal network became public. The proposal included the potential closure of up to 36 metropolitan outlets in New South Wales and Victoria, as well as changes to the way regional and rural post offices operate.
The leaked business case, dated 9 June 2026, was titled Post Office Network & Licensed Post Office Reimagined. It set out potential “format conversions”, which could involve moving services into pharmacies, newsagents or convenience stores, or reducing outlets to parcel agencies and lockers. ([sarahhenderson.com.au](https://sarahhenderson.com.au/auspost-boss-to-face-senate-grilling-over-secret-plans-for-post-office-closures/?utm_source=openai))
Asked why he had not disclosed the plans during a Senate estimates hearing in May, Mr Graham said he had been responding to a question about whether there was an active closure programme.
“I was asked the question: Was there an active program?” he said. “And in my understanding of what an active program is, my answer was correct: there was no active program.”
He told senators that the document was a framework rather than an approved operational plan, adding that Australia Post did not currently have a programme to close post offices.
“I could talk about a hundred things that are in embryonic stages or ideas … that aren’t formal,” Mr Graham said.
Australia Post closure plans questioned
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, who uncovered the document, accused the chief executive of deliberately choosing misleading language.
“I didn’t use the words ‘active program’; you did, Mr Graham,” she said. “You deliberately deceived our committee by using those sorts of tricky words.”
Australia Post has previously described its “reimagined” retail model as a modernisation programme, with new-format stores already operating in Orange in New South Wales, Burnie in Tasmania and Noosa Heads in Queensland. ([auspost.com.au](https://auspost.com.au/disruptions-and-updates/post-office-and-retail-updates/post-office-reimagined?utm_source=openai))
The Senate inquiry into the retail network was established after the leaked document emerged. Its terms include examining Australia Post’s engagement with licence holders, the governance of the proposed changes and the effect on communities, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas. ([sarahhenderson.com.au](https://sarahhenderson.com.au/auspost-boss-to-face-senate-grilling-over-secret-plans-for-post-office-closures/?utm_source=openai))
Scott Etherington, chairman of the Licensed Post Office Group, said operators had been largely excluded from discussions about the plans.
“We’ve got a leadership team that is focused on shrinking the network to meet the current business, rather than growing the business to fill this network,” he told the committee.
Mr Etherington warned that closing post offices or steadily reducing their services could threaten the viability of small businesses and communities that depend on them for banking, bill payments and parcel services.
He also criticised financial support arrangements offered to struggling licensees, under which operators can receive assistance in return for signing fixed-term agreements and surrendering permanent licences.
“When I walk up to a man in the desert dying of thirst with a glass of water and I say, ‘It’s completely up to you whether you choose to take this glass of water,’ most people would say that’s not really a voluntary choice,” he said. “And that’s exactly where we are.”
The Licensed Post Office Group is calling for an assessment of the financial viability of a services-led model and an immediate pause to the reimagining programme.
