Australia Post and its former CEO Christine Holgate have reached a settlement following the Cartier watch scandal, with Australia Post to pay Holgate $1 million to be taxed as an employment termination payment.
Australia Post also agreed to pay $100,000 of Holgate’s legal costs.
Holgate participated in a mediation on 23 July before Peter Jacobson, a former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia to finalise the matter so that both parties can move on.
In a joint statement, Holgate said she has released Australia Post from all legal claims while Australia Post said it is making the payment without any admission of liability.
The dispute started in October last year when Holgate was stood aside after the federal government launched an investigation into the purchase of $12,000 in luxury Cartier watches for four senior Australia Post employees.
In November, she resigned while the investigation was carried out and said she would not be seeking any financial compensation.
However, in April, she broke her silence in a submission to a Senate inquiry, referring to the events of 22 October 2020. In the submission, she said she was “humiliated in Parliament” and “unlawfully stood down for no justified reason” by Australia Post chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo.
In her statement to the Senate inquiry, she also stood by her previous claim, saying that the “purchase of the four watches as a reward for the efforts of executives who delivered the pivotal Bank@Post deal was legal, within Australia Post’s policies, within [her] own signing authority limits, approved by the previous chairman, expensed appropriately, signed off by auditors and the CFO, widely celebrated within the organisation, and presented at a morning tea” by the previous chairman and herself.
In a statement, Australia Post has also acknowledged that it has lost an effective CEO following the events of 22 October 2020.
“Australia Post regrets the difficult circumstances surrounding Ms Holgate’s departure from her role as CEO,” it said.
“Australia Post recognises and thanks Ms Holgate for her outstanding contribution and strong leadership during her employment as CEO of Australia Post.
“Australia Post wishes Ms Holgate the best in her future endeavours.”
Since resigning from Australia Post, Holgate has updated her LinkedIn profile to reflect her new role – she has joined Australia Post rival and parcel delivery company Global Express as its CEO.
Global Express was part of Toll Holdings but got sold to private equity company Allegro Funds. Holgate will lead the transformation strategy for the growing parcels and logistics organisation upon Allegro completing its acquisition from the owner, Japan Post.
“In recent times, Global Express has faced challenges and there is lots of hard work ahead of us. However, the combination of new funding, a focused local leadership team, a strong position in growing markets and the turnaround expertise of Allegro, will ensure the business is successful,” Holgate said.
“As the world emerges from COVID, it is critical that we build more resilience in our logistics networks across Australia and New Zealand.
“e-Commerce in Australia still trails comparable countries at around 15 per cent of sales. The retail sector’s future success will depend greatly on Global Express providing the competitive delivery service necessary to underpin expansion.”
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