Australia Post executives have been accused of deliberately undermining post offices and making them financially unviable as part of a wider plan to reduce the retail network and move the organisation towards a FedEx-style model.

A Senate inquiry heard allegations that corporate policies were effectively “running post offices into the ground” by reducing customer traffic, eroding profits and diminishing the value of small businesses.

The investigation, led by Senator Sarah Henderson, accused Australia Post of using “unethical” and “improper tactics” as part of what she described as an “insidious” push to close stores.

Chief Executive Paul Graham appeared before the inquiry earlier this month after being accused of misleading a budget estimates hearing in May.

Mr Graham, whose $3.3 million salary package makes him the Commonwealth’s highest-paid chief executive or government official, told budget estimates that no active closure program was under way. However, a leaked, board-approved business case emerged two weeks later outlining plans to buy back 36 stores.

The confidential document detailed a proposal known as “Licensed Post Office Reimagined”, which would convert post offices into parcel lockers and shift key services to “host businesses”, including pharmacies and newsagents.

Mr Graham described the proposal as “embryonic” and strongly rejected claims that he had misled the budget estimates hearing.

Senator Henderson also alleged that Mr Graham launched a “shocking spate of threats” against post office owners after the leak. The inquiry heard she believed those actions brought him “perilously close” to being held in contempt of parliament.

Mr Graham denied that anyone had received legal threats, saying Australia Post was instead conducting due diligence into the alleged misuse of sensitive information.

Licensees who spoke anonymously told the Daily Mail that Australia Post engaged law firm Mallesons within 48 hours of the leak to identify the whistleblower.

One source said several employees received legal letters because, despite the document being confidential, it could be accessed by anyone with entry to Australia Post’s internal systems.

Senator Henderson also accused Australia Post of using a “classic bait and switch” to persuade Licensed Post Office owners to move from perpetual agreements to fixed-term contracts.

Unlike conventional franchise arrangements, which generally run for fixed periods and must be renewed every five or 10 years, LPOs operate under perpetual agreements with no specified end date. That arrangement makes them valuable, continuing business assets.

In June, licensees in rural and regional areas were told they would need to sign fixed-term agreements and surrender the certainty supporting much of their businesses’ value in exchange for higher short-term commissions and improved pay.

The proposed change would substantially alter the balance of power, potentially reducing the value of individual businesses, leaving licensees with assets they could not sell and exposing them to negative equity.

The consequences could be particularly severe for the two-thirds of licensees who, according to Australia Post, hope to sell their businesses and retire within the next five years.

One licensee said she would be put in ‘an extremely vulnerable position’, with the stability and confidence of a perpetual licence being taken away.

‘It is difficult to plan for the future when the foundation of our business can be altered or taken away at the end of a term,’ her submission said.

However, an Australia Post spokesperson said its current modelling suggested that 70 per cent of eligible licensees would be financially better off under the arrangement, which was ‘entirely voluntary’.

Sources told the Mail that all signs point to Australia Post’s ‘widely known vision’ to become a parcel-focused carrier rather than a community-facing hub.

In doing so, post offices are no longer being seen as critical pieces of community infrastructure, but as a network of corporate franchises.

This theory is strengthened by the professional backgrounds of many current executives, including Executive General Manager Josh Bannister, who has previously worked at McDonald’s and Domino’s.

Mr Bannister, who also appeared before the Senate, helped author the leaked business case and was ‘intimately involved’ in the LPO Reimagined proposal.

Another strategy raised at the inquiry was that Australia Post was intentionally causing services to withdraw from its stores to decrease foot traffic and make them less profitable.

In the past 12 months, more than 60 services have disappeared from post offices, the Senate heard, the latest being Western Union, which will withdraw its wire transfers from October.

A licensee told the Mail that the withdrawn services were ’60 less reasons for somebody to walk into my post office, 60 less things that bring my business value’.

‘Their [Australia Post’s] view is anything that doesn’t help us become a parcel carrier is unnecessary.

‘If they want to turn us into a logistics company they can at least be honest about it and make us a fair offer instead of driving us into the ground.’

An Australia Post spokesperson said the ‘vast majority’ of services withdrawn reflected decisions made by ‘third parties and government services moving to digital channels or choosing not to renew their contracts’.

They also said they were investigating additional over-the-counter services, and had expanded the available banking services with licensees receiving a 30 per cent commission increase. 

Aggressive management, compliance demands and disciplinary action have also reportedly intensified in recent years.

A source said leadership was ‘handing out breaches left, right and centre’.

‘They are very aggressive and they are in control of all the livelihoods of their franchisees,’ the source said.

The peak body for licensees, the Licensed Post Office Group, argued the rules are so broad that licensees ‘cannot reasonably understand their own obligations’.

LPOG also said there was a double standard in how licensees and management received consequences.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman for Small Business wrote that Australia Post’s dispute-handling processes should ‘afford natural justice’ and ‘proportionate outcomes’.

Parcel lockers placed outside LPOs – without consultation or warning – are also cited as eating away at commissions earned over the counter from handling and processing packages.

LPOG chair Scott Etherington told the inquiry that loading and unloading the parcel lockers involved double the work of processing parcels over the counter, yet paid only half the commission.

However, Australia Post insists the parcel lockers are ‘designed to complement not replace’ post offices, with parcels accounting for the majority of post office transactions.

In a statement, the spokesperson said Australia Post was committed to its extensive post office network: ‘We reject any suggestion Australia Post is seeking to run down or close its retail network.

‘Australia Post has strict regulations to maintain a minimum of 4,000 retail outlets nationally, with 2,500 in non-metro areas and LPOs remain central to how we serve customers and communities.’

‘Consultation on the proposed Licensed Post Office Reimagined (LPOR) model remains ongoing and no final decisions have been made.

‘The proposal is entirely voluntary, and licensees who choose not to participate will remain on their existing agreements.’

The Senate inquiry will reconvene for a third hearing on September 30.

Two migrants bound for the UK have died while attempting to secure places on overcrowded, large inflatable boats.

French prosecutors have launched criminal investigations into the two deaths on beaches along the English Channel.

A confrontation broke out at Camiers, south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, yesterday morning after a migrant boat encountered difficulties offshore.

About 30 people had managed to board when a man was found in the water after suffering a suspected heart attack.

Medics attempted to revive the unidentified man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Several miles to the north, the body of a person described as being “in their 30s, of African appearance” was found on the beach at Neufchâtel-Hardelot.

The worsening Channel crisis saw 781 migrants reach the UK on Wednesday, the highest daily figure recorded this year. That brought the total since the 2024 general election to 83,279—more than the British Army’s 83,000 soldiers, according to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp.

“Labour has let an entire army-sized population cross the Channel illegally,” the Conservative frontbencher said. “Labour has lost control of our borders and seems utterly incapable of getting it back.”

Pressure on the Government has intensified after two dinghies reached British shores this week without being intercepted by Border Force.

Cabinet minister Lucy Powell acknowledged that the Government “can’t stop everything all of the time” while facing questions about a chaotic week.

Wednesday’s figure surpassed the previous yearly high of 752, recorded on July 29. It also meant that 1,085 migrants had arrived in Britain during the first three days of this week. Further arrivals were reported yesterday, although official numbers have not yet been released.

Cécile Gressier, the Boulogne prosecutor, confirmed that investigations into both deaths were under way. People smugglers or other migrants could potentially face manslaughter charges.

The latest fatalities bring to at least 21 the number of people who have died in the Channel this year while attempting to reach Britain, including women and children.

The deaths came a day after disturbing footage appeared to show a man leaving a child behind as he tried to board a dinghy in France.

The chaotic video, filmed from a beach, shows the man holding a toddler as he tries to climb onto the small boat.

Standing in chest-deep water amid strong waves, he then releases the child, who remains floating face-up in the sea for several seconds.

Members of the French lifeboat organisation SNSM swim towards the child and pull them from the water.

The youngster, who appears to be around three or four years old, is carried back to shore on a rescue board while the man continues trying to board the dinghy.

It remains unclear whether the man and child are related. The child was wearing a black hooded anorak and an orange life jacket.

The video clip was filmed off Berck beach, about 30 miles south of Boulogne, on Monday afternoon.

Many migrants have drowned, while others have been crushed to death in overcrowded boats.

The worst tragedy of this kind came in November 2021, when 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK – the highest recorded number of deaths from a single incident.

Multiple attempts at crossings have taken place from the coast of northern France over the last few days, as the smugglers take advantage of calm seas and good weather.

According to figures from the UK Home Office, 781 migrants arrived in Britain on Wednesday – the highest single-day total recorded so far this year.

In total, 18,565 migrants have reached England via this route since January, a figure down by more than 40 per cent compared to the same period in 2025.

The surge in crossings also indicates that people-trafficking gangs are still getting hold of dinghies and outboard motors with ease, despite a crackdown on supply routes.

The figures will be embarrassing for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who claimed on September 2: ‘We are boosting officer numbers to record highs to crack down on small-boat launches and the gangs behind them. This work is bearing fruit.’

This week’s two ‘uncontrolled landings’ included a dinghy with up to 30 migrants which reached a Kent beach on Tuesday before police arrived. 

Officials confirmed 21 people were detained and taken to a Home Office facility, where they will be processed ahead of lodging asylum claims.

Ms Mahmood has ordered an urgent review of how the boats made it across the Channel unchallenged.

Education Secretary Ms Powell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘[You] can’t stop everything all of the time. Of course it’s a concern.

‘That’s why the Home Secretary has demanded and ordered this urgent review, because this is not what we want to see. This is not acceptable.’

A Border Force union – the ISU – warned that migrant boats were ‘definitely’ arriving undetected along the full length of the UK’s south coast.

The union’s Lucy Moreton said: ‘It’s absolutely, definitely happening. If no one sees them, no one sees them.

‘But we know that we’ve had abandoned vessels, we’ve had reports of uncontrolled landings all the way down to Falmouth.’

Ms Moreton accused the Home Office of taking a position of: ‘If we don’t look for it, we don’t know it’s happening. We don’t know it’s happening, we don’t have to deal with it.’

A former senior Home Office civil servant said the whole of the south coast should be monitored for migrant crossings, not just the narrowest section of the Channel near Dover.

Ex-Border Force director general Tony Smith said: ‘We’ve got technology – radar and drones and surveillance – but clearly, it didn’t work on this particular occasion.’

Asked why migrants would choose to arrive on a beach rather than be rescued and processed, he said they may have wanted to ‘evade capture’ and avoid biometric checks which could flag a criminal record or that they had previously arrived illegally.

A Government spokesman said: ‘Our progress this year in tackling small boats is indisputable – with crossings down by 42 per cent and the lowest recorded over the summer months since 2020.

‘But this week’s events show that while the peaks we are seeing are far below those of previous years, we need to push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade.’

The remains of a Texas college student who vanished while driving home for Christmas break have been discovered nearly six years after his disappearance.

A local resident found the human remains on September 8 east of Salt Flat Road in Caldwell County. DNA testing confirmed they belonged to Jason Landry, 21, the Texas Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit announced Wednesday.

Landry was expected to drive 165 miles from Texas State University to his hometown of Missouri City, outside Houston, in the early hours of December 13, 2020, but he disappeared during the journey.

His vehicle was seen at 12.30am on an isolated road near Luling, approximately 30 minutes from the university campus.

Investigators determined that the car had been involved in a single-vehicle crash as temperatures fell to about 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius.

“The car got off the road and spun around, and the back driver-side trunk, bumper and the side of the car took most of the impact,” Sergeant Deon Cockrell, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the time.

Landry’s wallet and cellphone were recovered from the car and nearby area. Investigators also found a small amount of blood, but there was no sign of the missing student.

Search dogs followed his scent from the vehicle to a nearby pond. However, after the pond was drained, authorities found no trace of the 21-year-old.

For nearly six years, Landry’s whereabouts remained unknown as his parents endured the uncertainty surrounding what had happened to their son.

During that time, the Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit said it “conducted repeated ground and aerial searches, reviewed new leads and continually re-examined the case” in partnership with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Search and Rescue.

Civilian volunteers also “devoted substantial time, effort and personal resources to the search for Jason,” the unit said.

Investigators ultimately determined that Landry had packed his Nissan Altima for the trip, bringing a backpack with his laptop, gaming equipment, a Ziploc bag of toiletries, a small amount of marijuana and his pet fish, Sparky. The fish was being carried in a tumbler used as a makeshift pet carrier. Landry had also entered his route into the Waze navigation app on his phone.

Data showed that Jason’s car entered Luling, an oil and ranching community, at 11.24pm—about 30 minutes after he began the journey.

He then stopped using Waze and, instead of turning right to remain on the route home, continued straight onto Salt Flat Road.

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Just 67 minutes later, the Nissan Altima was found crashed into a tree. The keys were still in the ignition, while Landry’s phone remained inside the vehicle.

A few feet away, his clothes, underwear, shoes and wristwatch had been neatly arranged on the gravel, suggesting that he had carefully undressed beside the road before vanishing into the freezing night.

Family members have since suggested a malfunctioning traffic app caused a rerouting of his navigational system, leading him to veer far off track.  

‘I don’t know why my son was down this road my best guess, he will follow Waze wherever it sends him, he was coming home from college, but he was here on this road I don’t know if he was trying to avoid a deer or what, swerved and hit some trees on the side,’ Landry’s father, Kent, said.

His car left the gravel road and ended up in a ditch alongside a fence. Some of his clothes were also found outside of the vehicle.

‘We know he got out of the crash OK, and was walking back, this way, and that’s the last we know for sure,’ said Kent, a pastor, to Fox 7. 

His remains were ultimately found just about five miles south of the crash site. 

Yet questions still remain, as the skeletal remains do not provide any additional insight into the cause or manner of death – though investigators have said they found no indication of foul play.

Still, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton touted the discovery of Landry’s body as ‘a critical moment in a case that has weighed heavily on our hearts for nearly six years.

‘The Landry family has suffered an unimaginable tragedy and they will remain in our prayers, especially during this incredibly difficult time,’ said Paxton, who is in the midst of a close Senate race. 

Meanwhile, in a statement posted to the ‘Missing Person – Jason Landry’ Facebook account, his family said they received the news of his untimely demise on Wednesday.

‘While we grieve his passing, we are so thankful to all of you who have prayed for our family during these difficult years of waiting. We are also so grateful for the members of law enforcement, volunteer search team members and the many individuals that have lifted up our family and the memory of Jason,’ the family said.

‘But most of all, we are so blessed to know that Jason is home with the Lord. We can’t wait to see him again in heaven,’ they continued, concluding with a Bible verse: ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).’ 

Finland and Sweden carried out their first joint operation to intercept a Russian military aircraft over the Gulf of Finland, marking a new step in Nordic airspace cooperation.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday’s mission demonstrated how the countries’ Quick Reaction Alert partnership can detect, track and protect their shared airspace.

“It is a concrete expression of the readiness and trust we have built together – and an expression of the strength in the Nordic, Nordic-Baltic, and broader Nato cooperation in our part of the world,” Kristersson wrote in a post on X today.

He added: “The Baltic Sea has never been as vulnerable as it is now – but it has also never been better protected than it is right now.”

According to the Finnish Air Force, aircraft from both nations located and identified a Russian formation that included a transport aircraft alongside several fighter jets.

The Gulf of Finland forms part of the wider Baltic Sea region, where vigilance has increased after gas pipeline disruptions, airspace incursions and repeated drone sightings since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Across Europe, concern is also mounting over the possibility that Vladimir Putin could be considering military action against other European nations.

Both Finland and Sweden abandoned decades of military non-alignment and applied to join Nato after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Norway, Iceland and Denmark were already members of Nato, along with the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The joint interception came as Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service, known as the DDIS, warned on Thursday that the threat of Russian military action against Nato members was increasing. It described a full-scale invasion as “highly unlikely”, although still possible.

European governments remain on alert for potential Russian interference, amid fears that Moscow could turn its attention toward countries supporting Kyiv as the war in Ukraine continues into its fifth year.

Thomas Ahrenkiel, head of the DDIS, said the agency saw a “low but growing risk that Russia will launch a limited military attack against one or several Nato countries bordering Russia”. He was speaking at a news conference presenting an updated assessment of the Russian threat.

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However, he said the intelligence service continued to judge it “highly unlikely that Russia would see any interest in invading a Nato country, but we cannot rule it out”.

The latest assessment also warned that Russia was likely to expand its use of so-called hybrid attacks against Western targets.

The DDIS said previous operations had largely focused on spreading fear and eroding public backing for military and other assistance to Ukraine.

More recently, however, such activity has increasingly been designed to disrupt the flow of aid itself, including alleged sabotage targeting defence manufacturers and rail shipments carrying military equipment.

The agency said it expected Russia to step up these operations, potentially including “destructive cyber attacks that cripple critical societal functions”.

The agency also said there was a low risk of a limited military attack even if the war in Ukraine continued, as an attempt to redirect European resources away from Ukraine.

‘A limited military attack would be a desperate move on Russia’s part and, like the intensified hybrid attacks, could potentially take place in the coming months,’ the agency said.

However, the DDIS also noted that ‘a build-up of forces would require several months of preparation and will be difficult to conceal’.

Mr Ahrenkiel also stressed that although ‘Russia’s increased willingness to take risks has consequences for the security situation in Denmark’, notably through hybrid attacks, this does not mean that Russia is going to attack the Scandinavian country.

‘We do not expect a conventional Russian military attack against Denmark,’ he said.

Denmark’s national intelligence and security service PET meanwhile said in a statement that Russia’s increased willingness to take risks ‘may lead to an increase in both Russian influence activity and the espionage and sabotage threat in Denmark’.

PET had previously indicated that sabotage threats primarily target the defence industry and others directly linked to the military support of Ukraine.