Out-going Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour has questioned whether Pauline Hanson’s criticism of his salary was because “she has an issue with the colour of my skin.”
Fahour, whose resignation yesterday followed two weeks of criticism over the $5.6 million he received in salary and bonuses in 2016, has copped a hammering from the One Nation leader over the size of his pay and the decline in Australia Post’s services.
Speaking at Australia Post’s half-year results announcement yesterday about his impending departure – he’ll leave the company in July – Fahour took what appeared to be a veiled dig at Hanson, saying that running the massive company was “a little bit more complicated than running a fish and chip shop.”
Hanson didn’t take that lying down, taking to Twitter to hit back at the postal boss.
Ahmed Fahour quits. Says running Australia Post harder than owning a fish & chip shop. At least my shop never suffered a $221 MILLION loss!
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) February 23, 2017
I wonder if Australia Post is still waiting for Ahmed Fahour’s resignation letter to arrive in the mail? #auspol
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) February 23, 2017
The difference between my fish&chip shop & Ahmed Fahour’s Australia Post? My customers didn’t have to wait 3-6 business days for their meal!
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) February 23, 2017
But Fahour told The Project last night that the Queensland senator needed to work out “does she have an issue with how Australia Post is performing or does she have an issue with the colour of my skin or my religion”?
Fahour reportedly asked Australia Post to donate his $2 million bonus for 2012-13 directly to the Islamic Museum of Australia, which is run by his brother. News of the donation emerged in 2014.
But the Australia Post CEO used his appearance on The Project to defend his philanthropy.
“If [Hanson’s issue is] about how I support social inclusion in this country and how we make sure that this beautiful multicultural country that we live in, that we can actually live together and appreciate and love each other, if the issue is let’s have a debate about that, then no problems at all,” he said.
He also slammed Hanson for her criticism of the postal service. Australia Post has been struggling for some time with the decline of the letters business, which the latest profits figures show shrank a further 11 percent in the first half of the financial year.
“There are 55,000 people who do an amazing job at Australia Post and I don’t appreciate any politician who lives off the taxypayer – because that’s what our politicians do – criticising the amazing work out post offices and our employees do,” he said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had also criticised the size of Fahour’s pay packet. But Australia Post yesterday a reported a pre-tax profit of $197 million for the six months to December 31. This was up from a $1 million profit in the same period of 2015.
Since joining the business in 2010, Fahour has fought to build Australia Post’s e-commerce and parcels business in the face of tough competition from household-name courier services.
Fahour said yesterday that parcels and e-commerce were now responsible for 100 percent of Australia Post’s profits, while he had reduced losses on the postal business to breakeven, saving $600 million.