October 7, 2025 • 5 mins
Rural Women New Zealand’s interim chief executive discusses how postage service cuts could negatively affect rural communities.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rural delivery New Zealand Posts reducing this and this is
this really gets me wound up, This whole thing of connectivity,
especially in a week like Mental Health Awareness Week. CEO
of Rural Women in New Zealand is Nicola Echlson, joins us. Now, hello, Nikola,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm with how are you? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And I fighting fit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
But I'm annoyed by this because you know, I mean,
I spent the first twenty odd years of my life
living rurally and you know that this is an incredibly
important issue. And I know you had a survey which
where many many, in fact, the vast majority of your
members had real concerns.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
About this cutting back of rural delivery. What five days
to three.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And postal outlets being chop left, right and center. It
is concerning.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It really is our members we're really nervous about this.
So more than ninety percent of them in that survey
set they were really concerned that it would negatively impact them.
And so here we are with the proposed reduction or
the reduction and services and it's a real issue. It's
lifeline stuff. New Zealand post is a lifeline for our communities.
(01:10):
You know, as you say, the connectivity. They already live
far away from the local shop, the boadbands patchy, the
connections are just being reduced that much further. It's it's
really sad.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, when you get back to three days, I mean
that presents some pretty big gaps and some barriers, doesn't it.
It just yeah, it's a huge you know, five to
three days might not sound like a lot too urban
folk who are used to their team, who are getting
dropped off by the courier every few hours, but this
is a big cutback.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It is a big cutback because there are already parts
of the country where it takes about three weeks to
get something, So it's so reducing that service is just
exacerbating that. And the things that our members tell us
they are getting in that postal delivery are things like
them medications. It might be the medication from the vets
(02:03):
of their animals, it might be food or clothing. They
really are very dependent on these services for supplies coming in.
But then we've also got the people who are running
businesses who are relying on sending things out, so it's
a double whammy for those people.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, too, there is a population or a percentage of
our rural community. You do live sort of within that
sort of twenty to thirty forty minutes of good rural
service towns where they can get everything they want. Not
that that should be a reason to cut back rural delivery,
but then there are plenty who live so far beyond
(02:43):
that kind of catchment.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Absolutely, we suspect when they reduce the number of those
communal collection points, we suspect that people are going to
be traveling, you know, I don't know, you know, more
than an hour to go and collect their posts. It's
really tough.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And you know, this isn't the only thing that's going
I mean, I know things are better on the farm
at the moment with some good farm gate prices, but
that doesn't you know, that doesn't detract from the day
to day issues.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And this is a big issue.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I mean, in that survey, obviously rural women New Zealand
spoke up very strongly about their concerns for cutbacks to
rural delivery and postal outlets.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They we did because our members are concerned. But you know,
I think the other issue is and we've talked about
business and the economic impact and that is really important,
but we've also got a social isolation issue here in
New Zealand, and we're talking about you know, all forms
of connection, whether it be receiving a letter, it just
(03:48):
there's dat as well, and we're making it more isolated.
We're making people more isolated, and we're just making life
a little bit harder and parts of the country where
we need people to be living and serving our communities
and the food and fiber sector. So there's the business,
but then there's also the people who go out and
(04:09):
want to live there and want to raise their children
in those areas. We're just making it a little bit
harder and a little bit more isolated, and that's the
real problem.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And you know, like you know, I don't want to
make light of this, but you know it's a bit
like seeing in the care package to the son or
daughter at university out there in those rural backblocks, getting something,
you know, a little treat coming in the mail regularly
and knowing stuff is coming that's vital.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh absolutely, And all sorts of stuff comes through those
mail delivery and know I remember being on farm and
you know who you're posting is and they're delivering all
sorts of things for you and you're putting biscuits in
the mailbox at Christmas time and on their birthday. It's
a really big connection piece.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Okay, so what are you going to do? What's the plan?
Do you rure women in z How are you going
to address this?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
How are you going to go and low and hard
and crash tackle New Zealand post on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
This crash tat Look, we're going to We're going to
regroup and talk to our members and say, right, what
is the next step. I think it is going to
be really important that we keep making a noise about
the impact. We'll tell you those very visible stories about
the impact that it's going to have. I think it's
(05:18):
as short sighted to make these cuts and we need
to we need to tell those stories.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, absolutely, Nichola, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Good luck with this and we'll keep on top of
it in support of you too on this cutbacks for
rural delivery five days to three days and those postal
outlet cut contacts as well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thanks very much. Okay, thank you very much.
Rural delivery New Zealand Posts reducing this and this is
this really gets me wound up, This whole thing of connectivity,
especially in a week like Mental Health Awareness Week. CEO
of Rural Women in New Zealand is Nicola Echlson, joins us. Now, hello, Nikola,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm with how are you? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And I fighting fit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
But I'm annoyed by this because you know, I mean,
I spent the first twenty odd years of my life
living rurally and you know that this is an incredibly
important issue. And I know you had a survey which
where many many, in fact, the vast majority of your
members had real concerns.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
About this cutting back of rural delivery. What five days
to three.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And postal outlets being chop left, right and center. It
is concerning.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It really is our members we're really nervous about this.
So more than ninety percent of them in that survey
set they were really concerned that it would negatively impact them.
And so here we are with the proposed reduction or
the reduction and services and it's a real issue. It's
lifeline stuff. New Zealand post is a lifeline for our communities.
(01:10):
You know, as you say, the connectivity. They already live
far away from the local shop, the boadbands patchy, the
connections are just being reduced that much further. It's it's
really sad.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, when you get back to three days, I mean
that presents some pretty big gaps and some barriers, doesn't it.
It just yeah, it's a huge you know, five to
three days might not sound like a lot too urban
folk who are used to their team, who are getting
dropped off by the courier every few hours, but this
is a big cutback.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It is a big cutback because there are already parts
of the country where it takes about three weeks to
get something, So it's so reducing that service is just
exacerbating that. And the things that our members tell us
they are getting in that postal delivery are things like
them medications. It might be the medication from the vets
(02:03):
of their animals, it might be food or clothing. They
really are very dependent on these services for supplies coming in.
But then we've also got the people who are running
businesses who are relying on sending things out, so it's
a double whammy for those people.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, too, there is a population or a percentage of
our rural community. You do live sort of within that
sort of twenty to thirty forty minutes of good rural
service towns where they can get everything they want. Not
that that should be a reason to cut back rural delivery,
but then there are plenty who live so far beyond
(02:43):
that kind of catchment.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Absolutely, we suspect when they reduce the number of those
communal collection points, we suspect that people are going to
be traveling, you know, I don't know, you know, more
than an hour to go and collect their posts. It's
really tough.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And you know, this isn't the only thing that's going
I mean, I know things are better on the farm
at the moment with some good farm gate prices, but
that doesn't you know, that doesn't detract from the day
to day issues.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And this is a big issue.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I mean, in that survey, obviously rural women New Zealand
spoke up very strongly about their concerns for cutbacks to
rural delivery and postal outlets.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They we did because our members are concerned. But you know,
I think the other issue is and we've talked about
business and the economic impact and that is really important,
but we've also got a social isolation issue here in
New Zealand, and we're talking about you know, all forms
of connection, whether it be receiving a letter, it just
(03:48):
there's dat as well, and we're making it more isolated.
We're making people more isolated, and we're just making life
a little bit harder and parts of the country where
we need people to be living and serving our communities
and the food and fiber sector. So there's the business,
but then there's also the people who go out and
(04:09):
want to live there and want to raise their children
in those areas. We're just making it a little bit
harder and a little bit more isolated, and that's the
real problem.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And you know, like you know, I don't want to
make light of this, but you know it's a bit
like seeing in the care package to the son or
daughter at university out there in those rural backblocks, getting something,
you know, a little treat coming in the mail regularly
and knowing stuff is coming that's vital.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh absolutely, And all sorts of stuff comes through those
mail delivery and know I remember being on farm and
you know who you're posting is and they're delivering all
sorts of things for you and you're putting biscuits in
the mailbox at Christmas time and on their birthday. It's
a really big connection piece.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Okay, so what are you going to do? What's the plan?
Do you rure women in z How are you going
to address this?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
How are you going to go and low and hard
and crash tackle New Zealand post on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
This crash tat Look, we're going to We're going to
regroup and talk to our members and say, right, what
is the next step. I think it is going to
be really important that we keep making a noise about
the impact. We'll tell you those very visible stories about
the impact that it's going to have. I think it's
(05:18):
as short sighted to make these cuts and we need
to we need to tell those stories.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, absolutely, Nichola, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Good luck with this and we'll keep on top of
it in support of you too on this cutbacks for
rural delivery five days to three days and those postal
outlet cut contacts as well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thanks very much. Okay, thank you very much.
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