“Australia Post cannot keep looking the other way”: Coleambally community rallies for its post office

Coleambally will hold a community rally on Tuesday 28 April at 8am in the main shopping area after

Australia Post shut the town’s Licensed Post Office and left residents without PO boxes, banking, bill

payments or parcel tracking.

Independent Member for Murray Helen Dalton said: “Australia Post closed our Licensed Post Office and left

Coleambally with a trestle table under a carport. That is not a postal service. That is a shrug.”

Coleambally is home to more than 1,000 people. Since the closure, the local pharmacy has stepped in to

keep a handful of services running so residents are not completely cut off.

“The pharmacy did the right thing because the community needed someone to, and they have done a good

job,” Mrs Dalton said. “But a stopgap was never meant to be the answer for a town of more than 1,000

people.”

73 post offices closed across Australia last year. Coleambally is the latest regional community forced to fight

for a basic service that city suburbs take for granted.

“Coleambally will not be the next regional town that gets quietly written off,” Helen said. “So we are taking

it to the street.”

The rally starts at 8am on Tuesday 28 April in the Coleambally main shopping area and will run for 30

minutes, so residents can still get to work and children can still get to school. A PA system and speakers are

organised. Residents are encouraged to bring neighbours, bring their kids on the way through, and bring a

sign. Core Flute from Bunnings or a sheet of cardboard will do the job.

“The bigger and clearer the message, the harder it is for Australia Post to keep looking the other way,” Mrs

Dalton said.

“If you can get the word out to one more person in Coly today, please do. This is our town and our post

office,” Mrs Dalton added.