Forget the Cartier watches. We should be talking about privatising Australia Post

Australia Post CEO and managing director, Christine Holgate, has been caught between the conflict of running a government business enterprise and having to run it as an effectively fully-fledged private sector commercial entity – and every politician knows this. 

Her problem was that the Cartier watches bought as a reward for four senior executives who clinched a deal with banks that further secured the finances of Australia Post brought into glaring light the reality that all know: Australia Post is first and foremost a commercial business — as it must be to be self–sustaining. 

But the optics of this created a problem for the government who knew that gift of $5000 watches would not sit well with the public who still…