Inside the campaign to bring back Christine Holgate

Some claim Holgate was corruptly forced out of the job by the government, others that she never actually resigned and remains legally in charge. Suggestions that Parliament has been misled by politically compliant directors echo across Facebook and YouTube. More than 25,000 people have signed an online petition against the “unwarranted resignation”. #ReinstateHolgate lit up Twitter.

For months the motley crew behind the push might have been dismissed as fringe dwellers, but their success in convincing politicians Pauline Hanson, Bob Katter and Matt Canavan to take up the cause means a potentially messy Senate inquiry could breathe new life into the controversy.

The campaign is gathering momentum. More than 25,000 people have signed an online petition against the “unwarranted resignation” of Holgate. 

First a recap: Holgate – a successful former Blackmores executive – quit Australia Post in November after confirming she spent $19,950 on the corporate card for four watches for executives who sealed a deal to boost regional banking services in post offices, back in 2018.

Timeline blows out

Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the cost “disgraceful” and ordered a review, instructing Holgate to stand aside and telling question time she could “go” if she refused. The government was furious Holgate insisted she hadn’t spent taxpayers’ money on the watches.

A four-week, $125,000 probe by law firm Maddocks found the purchases breached spending rules, with other potentially problematic credit card activity also revealed.

You don’t get to falsely and savagely trash the career of one of Australia’s most successful business leaders for no reason and then get away with it.

— Pauline Hanson, arguing to reinstate Christine Holgate as Australia Post CEO

Recruitment for a new chief executive is down to a final shortlist, but the expected timeline has blown out. Chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo has sought to move past the controversy. Former Liberal Party federal director Tony Nutt was reappointed to the board last week.

AFR Weekend has been told Holgate has refused multiple interview requests, including the chance to put her side of the story on TV programs such as 60 Minutes and 7.30. She has turned down requests from this newspaper, including for comment in this report.

Last month, just as Australia Post was announcing a record $3.4 billion pandemic profit bump and the strongest parcel volumes in its history, Hanson revived the controversy and secured Labor’s support for a Cartier inquiry.

“You don’t get to falsely and savagely trash the career of one of Australia’s most successful business leaders for no reason and then get away with it,” Hanson said.

‘Appalling’ treatment

One Nation wants to rake through the circumstances of Holgate’s departure, taking its lead from a broad coalition of campaigners, including the Australian Citizens Party, the antipodean arm of the fringe movement founded by American political figure and conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche.

MPs have raised Holgate’s plight in the Coalition party room and Labor achieved a stylish parliamentary pirouette, supporting the inquiry to give Holgate and the government grief even after helping hound her out of the job. The politics will inevitably play into criticism of the Coalition’s treatment of women.

If I acted like that, I would be hauled up to court by the Fair Work Commission.

— Angela Cramp, on the campaign to force Christine Holgate out

Angela Cramp says Holgate has faced appalling treatment. She’s relishing the chance to speak at a public hearing.

“If I did that to one of my staff in my office, if I acted like that, I would be hauled up to court by the Fair Work Commission.”

Cramp says Holgate never resigned, instead telling the board she was prepared to walk away without conditions that day, to avoid dragging things out. The claim is incorrect. Holgate resigned on November 2.

“They then released that information, saying she’d resigned. Sky News ran it at 1.30pm but the offer was open until the close of business. The chairman of the board said she had tendered her resignation.

“So she had no choice to come out and tell everyone she had offered [to quit]. They then sent out a document saying she was not able to take another job or engage with any Australia Post associates for 12 months.

“That is not what she agreed to do.”

Australia Post would not comment for this story, opting not to answer questions about Di Bartolomeo’s evidence to Parliament and the severance deal offered to Holgate. A spokeswoman said the corporation would fully co-operate with the inquiry. The chairman is among those high on the list of potential witnesses.

‘True believers’

Holgate was controversial in the job. Her unusual leadership style put off some, sparked damaging leaks and saw a roster of senior executives leave. She used corporate credit cards for lavish purchases, including at luxury hotels and top restaurants.

Lawyers were called in over delays to the delivery of Hanson-branded stubby holders to residents of Melbourne’s locked-down public housing towers, a damaging story at the height of the pandemic.

Controversial changes to the organisation’s community service obligations angered stakeholders. Holgate was lashed by a parliamentary committee for trying to avoid scrutiny. Unions said the Cartier purchase overshadowed major problems faced by posties. There were major delays in postal deliveries as Australians endured lockdowns.

Cramp says the only logical explanation for the board’s behaviour is privatisation – a long-held theory shared by others pushing for Holgate’s return.

“They’re protecting the chairman of the board and washing their hands of the best chief executive the organisation has ever had,” she says.

One person watching the campaign closely said a few hard core supporters – “the true believers” – think Holgate can still return to her old job. Others, angry at the stink, want the board gone and any new chief executive to respect licensed post office (LPO) operators.

Acting boss Rodney Boys is considered a frontrunner. Executive general manager Nicole Sheffield is said to have impressed in interviews.

Citizens Insight, a YouTube series by the Citizens Party, has covered the story extensively. Research director Robert Barwick’s 48-minute interview with Cramp has been watched 3500 times.

Barwick tells AFR Weekend the party had long sought to curb the big banks’ power in Australia and supported community banking. He said Morrison has protected the bosses of the big four, failing to implement the banking royal commission recommendations.

“She didn’t just make the banks pay up. If the deal hadn’t been done in that 2018 year of the royal commission, when the banks were reeling and under fire like never before, I’m not sure she would have got the deal,” he says.

If they can find a clone of her that can do as good a job, that would be fine as well.

— Angela Cramp, on Christine Holgate and her replacement

“They were looking for goodwill. But three years later, screw that. They’re back, baby!”

Barwick’s latest article on the matter runs to 3000 words. The party has campaigned for the big banks to be broken up, wants to scrap the GST and impose financial speculation taxes. They’ve claimed the Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy and the Queen exerts an “octopus-like network of control” over Australia’s business and politics.

He is blunt when asked if the Holgate campaign has cut through with his members online.

“S— yeah. Hell yeah – whatever you want to quote me.”

Phones in Parliament’s ministerial wing have continued to ring over the controversy. The office of Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has been a target, receiving as many as 80 calls a day. LPO operators sent $5 notes to Morrison, seeking to repay the cost of the watches so Holgate could return.

She is understood to have prepared a lengthy submission for the inquiry and will give evidence in person. She wants the record corrected, including over exactly who saw a high-level review of Australia Post operations by Boston Consulting Group.

AFR Weekend can reveal Holgate wrote to the government and every board member explaining the errors and possible inconsistencies in Di Bartolomeo’s evidence to the Senate. She received no response.

Her supporters say she has emerged from a dark place in the wake of the controversy. One friend claims she has received multiple job offers already.

Angela Cramp insists the LPO operators aren’t in the fight purely to support Holgate.

“We just think we’ve found the best thing to support us,” she explains. “If they can find a clone of her that can do as good a job, that would be fine as well.”