In the corporate world, this sort of payment is not unusual, but when Mr Fahour has presided over the dismantling of Australia Post services, you would have to say it is a remarkable salary.

If we use our local postal service as an example, Australia Post has deteriorated enormously under his leadership.

In western Victoria, our mail used to be sorted by a handful of staff at the Ballarat Mail Centre. You could post a letter from Beaufort to Ararat, and in most cases it would be delivered the next business day. It was a good service.

Now we have a situation where that letter is driven past Ballarat, all the way down to Dandenong, it then gets sorted (eventually) and might arrive in Ararat a week later – if you are lucky. Then there is the new pricing structure where the cost of sending a letter rose 30 per cent to $1 only for our letters to receive a lower priority.

If you pay an extra 50 cents for a ‘priority’ sticker, it might arrive a bit sooner – again if you are lucky. It is argued that the changes and price increases were necessary to stem the losses incurred by Australia Post’s letter delivery business.

But most good chief executives would actually do their best to improve the service instead of winding it back to a point where it is unreliable, therefore resulting in even more lost income.

I know of a school that once posted out its newsletter to more than 200 parents, but has now given up on the postal system because the newsletters were arriving too late.

Pauline Hanson says Mr Fahour should be paid a maximum $250,000. 

That’s stupid! No corporate brain would work for that sort of money.

But the current salary is way too high, especially considering the long list of underachievement. As it stands, the taxpayer still owns Australia Post. Malcolm Turnbull is happy to cut back pensions, and even admits Mr Fahour’s salary to be way too high.

You’re his boss Malcolm, you can fix this! 

CRAIG WILSON

Beaufort

THE Victorian Women’s Benevolent Trust has opened its 2017 general grants program for the benefit of women and girls.

Community organisations contributing to social inclusion and addressing disadvantage for women and girls in rural and regional Victoria are invited to apply for grant funding.

The trust will support projects that address the needs of refugee and migrant families or women or girls who are experiencing socio-economic disadvantage, lack of educational or training opportunities, or who live with a disability or illness.

The trust has previously supported outstanding initiatives across the Wimmera including Wimmera Uniting Care’s community development and capacity building program for women with disabilities and a Women’s Health Grampians research program in Ararat.

The rural and regional focus of the 2017 general grants round continues the trust’s proud tradition of targeting significant disadvantage or lack of resources affecting women and girls and their communities.

It’s very exciting to be able to reach out to rural and regional Victoria with our 2017 grants. Supporting initiatives that specifically respond to the needs of rural or regional women and girls will deliver positive outcomes for communities.

The trust is the grant-making entity of the Victorian Women’s Trust and in 31 years has provided nearly $7 million in grants for more than 560 projects in Victoria supporting women and girls.

Applications for the 2017 general grants close on March 24. More information is available from www.vwt.org.au/grants

CAROLYN MUNCKTON

General manager