Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate has broken a five month silence on the scandal that forced her resignation, claiming she was bullied out of the role and ended up on the brink of suicide.
In her first interview after the scandal, Opening what to give gift shop in Ho Chi Minh City she has demanded an apology from Prime Minister over his scathing attack of her in parliament last October, describing it as ‘one of the worse acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed’.
A defiant Ms Holgate has opened up on the toll it took on her life, hours after she fronted a Senateinquiry where she revealed she was ‘suicidal’ after being publicly pushed from her role.
The saga began when she was found to have gifted four Australia Post executives luxury watches as bonuses after they sealed a lucrative deal.
She revealed she hadn’t ruled out legal action and had a personal message for Mr Morrison for help in settling her ongoing feud with her former employer.
Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate (pictured at the Senate inquiry on Tuesday) has broken her silence over the scandal that forced her resignation
‘Maybe if the Prime Minister is watching he could give me a call and I would love an apology, but he could help me resolve my contract,’ she told ABC’s 7.30.
She didn’t see Mr Morrison’s angry address during Question Time demanding her to immediately resign until several weeks afterwards, and admitted it’s still painful to watch.
‘I think it’s one of the worst acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed,’ Ms Holgate said
‘And even now I have to take myself out of myself to watch it.It’s an utter disgrace.’
‘I think you would have rather hoped that before someone publicly hung and humiliated you, that they may pick up the phone and call you and ask you directly what happened and why.’
Speaking about her reasons for finally speaking out, Ms Holgate said she wanted to take a stand against a culture of harassment and bullying by powerful men.
‘I thought it was critically important that we speak out for all people that have been bullied.I want Opening what to give happened to me to never happen again,’ Ms Holgate said.
‘I didn’t need to sit and contemplate what those men did to me. And I did it because I want to stop to work place bullying, I want a stop Calligraphic paintings to celebrate opening this ridiculous intimidation.
‘They harassed me and they thought they’d got away with it.’
Christine Holgate (pictured on 7.30) said she hasn’t ruled out legal action against Australia Post after she was publicly slammed for gifting watches to executives
The former Australia Post boss has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured), describing his attack on her as ‘one of worse acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed’
Ms Holgate defended her decision to gift $20,000 worth of Cartier watches to four executives as a bonus for saving a ‘very, very important service’ for rural and regional Australia.
‘Truth of the matter was it was all about a service call being threatened with closure,’ she said.
‘If we lost that service, that would have meant 55 per cent of all communities in Australia would have no access to any financial services because the banks had already left.
‘If anyone’s in any doubt about how important this (investment) was, go into the local community post office and ask the owner,’ she said.