EVANSTON Gardens is one of a number of northern suburbs which will see its Australia Post mail service cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Federal Government has introduced laws which scale back delivery standards for Australia Post, with the agency experiencing a backlog of letters and parcels as a result of the coronavirus.
As a result, mail delivery in metropolitan areas across the country has been cut from every day to every second day, with the changes phased into different areas over time.
The Bunyip understands local changes are imminent, with Australia Post yet to confirm an exact date for the reduced service to begin.
Residents in Evanston Gardens, Andrews Farm, Smithfield, Blakeview, Craigmore, the Elizabeth area, Munno Para and Davoren Park will all be affected by the reduced service.
Gawler, Evanston, Evanston Park and Evanston South will still receive their usual level of mail delivery.
An Australia Post spokesperson said residents would be notified of the changes via a postcard in their mailbox.
“Additional Australia Post parcel delivery vans will be hitting the streets in parts of Adelaide’s northern suburbs over the coming weeks as some posties become temporary parcel posties to deliver unprecedented parcel volumes and meet the changing needs of customers through COVID-19,” he said.
“While posties continue to deliver letters, this will temporarily change to be every second business day in some areas.
“Express Post, parcels and Post Office Box mail will continue to be delivered five days a week and residents will be notified of these changes through a postcard delivered to their letterbox.”
The legislation which allows the reduced Australia Post service standards runs out on June 30, 2021.
Federal Labor has mounted opposition to the legislation though, saying the cuts undermine a public service during the pandemic and put posties’ jobs at risk.
Member for Spence Nick Champion was worried the reduced services could become a permanent cost-cutting measure.
“It’s not just an attack on the northern suburbs, it’s an attack on a basic service that Australia has to have,” he said.
“The government shouldn’t try and make money out of it and they need to understand that they need to have a reasonable service for Australians to be able to do their business.
“This is the last time you should be making drastic changes. People are preoccupied with the pandemic and we have a lot of different economic and health problems to face.
“We’re going to emerge from this pandemic and these services are going to be used a great deal. We’re going to have a great deal of churn in the economy.”

Suburbs which will have their mail delivery cut

Andrews Farm
Blakeview
Craigmore
Davoren Park
Davoren Park North
Davoren Park South
Elizabeth
Elizabeth East
Elizabeth Grove
Elizabeth South
Elizabeth Vale
Elizabeth Downs
Elizabeth North
Elizabeth Park
Elizabeth West
Evanston Gardens
Hillbank
Munno Para
Smithfield