Australia Post is shaping up as one of the big winners of Christmas 2016, according to chief executive Ahmed Fahour, with parcel volumes booming as Aussies turn to online shopping this year.
Bricks and mortar retailers are already discounting stock and bringing forward Boxing Day sales, while consumer confidence has dived to its lowest level since April, according to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment.
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Peter Dutton names Lebanese Muslims
The Immigration Minister reveals he was referring to Lebanese Muslims when he said last week that Malcolm Fraser had made immigration mistakes.
But in an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media Mr Fahour said domestic and international parcel volumes - particularly from China - are "booming".
Speaking with the barely-pausing-for-breath passion of a tele-evangelist, Mr Fahour predicts a big year in 2017 for Australia Post with a revolutionary new digital identity app to be launched in March or April, and plans to partner with small businesses to break into the trillion-dollar online shopping market in Asia.
The at-times divisive chief executive, arguably Australia's most high-profile Muslim business leader, also opened up about the need to confront the rise of Islamic extremism - and how economic inclusion is the best antidote.
Choosing his words with the care of a first-term politician, Mr Fahour neatly sidestepped questions about the rise of One Nation but said that "of course" he didn't agree with the idea that the wave of Lebanese migration to Australia was a mistake, an apparent reference to comments from Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in November about the Fraser government's policies.
"I don't necessarily agree with some of the ideas people put out – clearly I don't because if some of those were to be put in place when I came to this country . . . I wouldn't be here, so clearly I'm not going to support ideas that wouldn't have allowed my mum and dad to come to this country, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to have this wonderful opportunity," he says.
"But I hope that by the good things the silent majority do, that they could at least try to convince the Australian people that not all those people are bad eggs, some are good eggs trying to help and be part of the solution, not the problem."
In the wide-ranging interview at the Australia Post parcel centre at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, Mr Fahour says that "every day in November and December, every day has been a record, compared to the equivalent day last year, in terms of volume of parcels".
"Last weekend [there were] in excess of three million parcels, on Monday, in excess of two million, on Tuesday in excess of two million parcels in one day," he said.
"China, the US, the UK and new Zealand are the four biggest inbound parcel markets, with China No.1. With Chinese imports, Australians buying items is up over 40 per cent, year to date, over last year. And domestic parcel volume is booming as well."
The Australia Post chief segues neatly from the booming Christmas period to the opportunities awaiting Australian small business in the $20 billion Australian online marketplace, which grew by 10 per cent this year - and with his parcels outfit as a partner, of course.
"You can be a small business owner and you can sell to the 11 million households in this country, and participate in the $20 billion. Or you can say hang on, the dollar is at 75 cents to the US dollar, we have products – like vitamins, milk powder, soft commodities, like our fresh green products . . . that the Asians want to get hold of," he says.
"Our future as a country, our prosperity, can't rely on - like it did 100 years ago - the sheep's back and it can't rely on being Asia's quarry."
As seven years in the top job rolls around next week, Mr Fahour says the new digital identity product can revolutionise online identity checks.
"The average citizen interacts with 80 businesses online. So theoretically you are going to need 80 usernames, 80 passwords, and 80 identities, all done uniquely . . . what our product does is you grab the phone, it takes you through in five minutes a 100-point check, it will do voice, face recognition, it will do your thumb print, it takes all your biometrics, it will then scan your passport, upload the passport information, takes your drivers licence, uploads that, and it will do a calculation to work out if this is you or not," he says.
He dismisses the idea that the app could be seen as an "Australia Card" for the iPhone.
"If you don't want it, don't have it, No.1, and No.2 is, the Australia Card had a database that sits with the government, this doesn't sit with us, it sits with you [on the phone]."