Australian
Screen

In the latter half of the 1980s changes in government policy forced Australia Post to become more commercially oriented. In 1989 the Australian Postal Corporation Act (the APC Act) was passed, establishing Australia Post as a Government Business Enterprise, a corporation with a board of directors and a profit imperative. The organisation’s increased accountability and its new exposure to competition coincided with technological developments affecting the way it provided its services. Even prior to the APC Act being passed, Australia Post began restructuring, developing a corporate image and measuring and monitoring performance standards. Its relationship with the general public shifted from one of an assumed civil service to one of service provider and client, and it consequently became a major television advertiser. Post offices were given a new retail look (although still nothing like today’s POSTshops), and where previously only stamps were sold, a range of retail post items was introduced. As was the case with many items in the range, there was a dual incentive to the introduction of Postpak – the reduction of sorting costs and the raising of revenue.