Is it the case that the location and telephone numbers of individual licensed post offices no longer appear under the `Australia Post' heading in the Melbourne Telstra White Pages; if so: (a) is this omission the result of action taken by Australia Post; if so, why has Australia Post taken that action; (b) what consultation did Australia Post undertake prior to taking that action; and (c) will or does this omission occur in respect of the details of licensed post offices in any other State.

Based on advice received from Australia Post.

It is the case that location and telephone numbers of individual licensed post offices no longer appear under the heading for Australia Post in the Melbourne Telstra White Pages.

(a) Australia Post decided to remove the former block listing of individual corporate and Licensed Post Offices (LP0s) from the 1999 edition of the Melbourne Telstra White Pages and replace it with a centralised telephone inquiry point for its Customer Care Centre.

Australia Post advise that the benefit of listing a single inquiry point is that post office staff are not unnecessarily diverted from serving customers to answer routine telephone calls. Customer Care Centre staff are able to provide customers with advice or switch their call to the appropriate postal facility such as a corporate post office, Licensed Post Office or a delivery centre.

(b) Unfortunately, Australia Post did not undertake any consultation with licensees prior to making the change. Furthermore, when Australia Post requested the change, it also failed to make the appropriate arrangements with Telstra to reinstate individual listings of LPOs.

Australia Post advises me that it regrets the lack of consultation with licensees and this subsequent oversight.

In an effort to rectify the situation, on 1 October 1999 Australia Post sent a free listing pro forma from Pacific Access, the owners of the White Pages, to all licensees in Victoria requesting that they complete and return the pro forma to enable an entry to be included in the 2000 edition of the Melbourne White Pages.

(c) South Australia and Western Australia list all corporate post offices and LP0s, however, many LPOs have elected to have the single Customer Care Centre inquiry number listed rather than their particular office number.

Tasmania list all corporate post offices with the single Customer Care Centre inquiry number and all LPOs with their particular office number.

New South Wales and Queensland list all corporate and LPOs and are in the process of introducing a central Customer Care Centre inquiry number. These States will consult with the licensees' representative body before making any changes to the listing of individual LPOs.