Australia Post has suspended mail and parcel deliveries indefinitely to hundreds of homes in Alice Springs after a series of allegedly violent attacks against one of its veteran posties.
The government-owned postal service has notified affected residents in Sadadeen via a letter, which states that mail will now be redirected to the town's post office for collection.
The incidents allegedly involved the use of a knife and rocks, and happened over a period of several months.
"Australia Post delivery personnel have a reasonable expectation to work and operate in a safe environment," the letter reads.
"Australia Post provides advice to its delivery personnel on how to minimise the risk of an incident.
"Where necessary this can include suspending delivery of mail where there is risk of harm to personnel from an incident."
The letter says residents on at least five roads will be impacted, with all mail suspended "pending further discussion with local police, local MPs, and relevant authorities".
Postie allegedly attacked after returning from stress leave
Country Liberal Member for Braitling, Josh Burgoyne, claimed the long-time postie had taken stress leave after an incident last year involving rock-throwing, and upon returning had been threatened with a knife.
He said it was disappointing that Australia Post had resorted to halting mail and parcel deliveries.
"This is something that needs to be taken very seriously," he said.
"Whenever anyone is at work, they have the right to feel safe, and unfortunately, in these incidents, that postie certainly hasn't felt safe and as a result Australia Post have now taken the measures that they have to stop delivery in that area of town."
Mr Burgoyne said posties had previously raised concerns about other areas of town.
He said the veteran postie running the Sadadeen route had been left shaken by the incidents.
"When you've been in the job for 38 years, this is not something that you expect to happen," he said.
"I just want to give my thanks to all posties that go out there and do a good job, but especially to this specific individual because they do a bloody good job."
He called on NT government agency Territory Families to take action over complaints made about the alleged source of the incidents.
"If there are people that are acting and behaving extraordinarily badly and committing alleged offences towards our posties, there [must be] things put in place to ensure that this stops," he said.
"Australia Post have done what they've done now — what's going to be the reaction from the government and the Territory Families minister [Kate Worden] to deal with this going forward?"
Staff safety top priority
In a statement, Australia Post confirmed it had suspended deliveries to some addresses, saying the safety of its team members was its "number one priority".
"Australia Post apologises to customers for this inconvenience and will continue to work closely with police to resolve the issue and safely resume deliveries as soon as possible," a spokesperson said.
"Residents' mail will continue to be available for collection at Alice Springs Post Office in the interim while we work with the authorities to create a safe working environment for our people."
NT Police has been made aware of the incidents and is investigating.
