Daintree Village postal service facing uncertain future
Shire communications
Daintree Village locals are concerned they will have to collect their letters and parcels from Mossman after next Friday, with the impending closure of the pub having a knock-on effect for the Australia Post delivery service.
The Daintree Village Hotel doubles as the local post office, but with the pub set to close at the end of this month, there are still no firm plans about what will happen with the post.
Urgent emails have been sent to local MPs and Australia Post in an effort to secure a postal-delivery service for close to 100 locals after next week.
In correspondence seen by Newsport, Leichhardt MP Matt Smith’s office said the issue had been raised with Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells.
“I have been in contact with Minister Wells’ Office in regards to the loss of postal services at Daintree Village and directly provided the feedback around the concern of the lack of sustainability for the Aus Post commercial arrangements,” a spokesman for Mr Smith said.
“They will be in touch with the Department and the Business Unit to discuss how services can continue to be delivered to Daintree Village and whether there needs to be a further look into alternative options.”
Australia Post has this week been seeking expressions of interest from nearby businesses to take up the service, but locals are concerned a suitable operator has not been found in time.
There are particular concerns for the elderly and those without transport having to travel the 70km round trip to Mossman Post Office to pick up mail.
One option may be to install a postal box at the Daintree Village Hall, which has electricity and nearby Starlink internet services, while another is for a postie to deliver mail to individual Village post boxes.
Under agreed community obligations with the Federal Government, Australia Post mail delivery is required to be “reasonably accessible to all Australians wherever they reside”.
Australia Post and Leichhardt MP Matt Smith have been contacted for comment.
