Australia Post supports programs and events that have synergy with the organisation and that deliver genuine benefits to the Australian community. We also place a strong emphasis on supporting events and programs in rural and regional Australia.

In 2005/06, we spent more than $2.8 million on community sponsorship programs, spread over the following categories:

	education and literacy
	health
	the arts
	community groups and events
	philanthropy
	environment
	other.

Click here to view a larger version of this chart.

Education and literacy

Australia Post is committed to supporting the development of literacy and numeracy in young Australians. We have been involved in National Literacy and Numeracy Week since its inception in 1999. The program focuses on the importance of developing children’s numeracy and literacy skills and recognises the work of schools in raising numeracy and literacy standards in Australia.

Another seasonal literacy activity is our popular Santa Mail program. Over the 2005 Christmas season, more than 100,000 children developed their letter writing skills by writing to Santa.

We promote literacy throughout the year by providing free on-line resources for teachers, students and parents at our website auspost.com.au/education. The Postie Kate educational picture book, which we produced last year, has proved so popular that we have developed a special Postie Kate section of the website, a complementary letter-writing kit – and even Postie Kate stamps.

Many of our staff, licensees and contractors visit local schools or host school group visits at Australia Post facilities. These visits promote literacy skills, the hobby of stamp collecting and awareness of Australia Post’s role in the community. In Stamp Collecting Month (October) alone, our people conducted school visits involving more than 50,000 primary school students.

As part of our commitment to supporting communities in rural and regional Australia, we have sponsored the Phiggles the Flying Scientist program for the past four years. Phiggles brings practical science skills to children at remote farm stations and in Aboriginal communities.

This year we again partnered with the University of South Australia to support the Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship, which has been developed to help young Indigenous Australians achieve their academic goals.

Health

In 2005/06 we continued to sponsor research into a number of medical conditions, including melanoma, prostate cancer, cystic fibrosis and ovarian cancer. We also continued our support of the Breast Cancer Network Australia and Queensland’s Mater Foundation.

More than 2,100 Australia Post staff, family and friends took part in the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes to raise a total of $70,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The arts

Australia Post is a founding member and partner of the Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) and a financial supporter of many arts festivals and companies, including The Bell Shakespeare Company, Melbourne Theatre Company and the Noosa Long Weekend. Our major arts partnership is with Opera Australia: 2005/06 marked the third year of our sponsorship of the company and principal sponsorship of OzOpera, its touring arm. In 2005/06, we also sponsored the Young Artists’ Development Program, which offers young singers, conductors or accompanists the opportunity to spend a year with Australia’s national opera company. Through the year, OzOpera performed to more than 80,000 primary school students at schools in Victoria and New South Wales, and took its production of Carmen to 22 towns in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.

During the Commonwealth Games, Australia Post also supported the Art4Athletes program. We provided Reply Paid postcards for athletes and officials to send messages of thanks to the Australian school children who created “Welcome!” works of art for everyone staying in the Athletes’ Village during the Games.

For information about our philatelic exhibitions program, see Heritage Management.

Community groups and events

Australia Post is a major sponsor of the ourcommunity.com.au website. The website’s Marketing Media and Post Centre, which we helped to develop in the previous financial year, has proven extremely popular with charities and community groups. The use of Charity Mail – which provides charities with discounted mailing costs – also increased during the year, due at least in part to the website’s tips to help community groups make the most of direct mail.

The 2005/06 financial year was also our eleventh year as a major sponsor of the iconic Stawell Gift athletic carnival in western Victoria. This year, in the wake of the devastating New Year bushfires that destroyed more than 9,000 hectares of bush and farmland in the area, our continued support was particularly important to this rural community.

We also supported a wide range of youth sport programs (including Australian Rules football, Rugby League, cricket and tennis), several of which were in rural and regional areas.

Philanthropy

We continued to support a number of charities through corporate donations, including The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, a charity that supports child victims of violent crime.

A donation of $10,000 – the profit we made from sending international mail bags for recycling – was given to Down Syndrome Victoria. This charity was chosen because many of the men and women who work at Brunswick Industries (where the bags are packed for recycling) are affected by Down Syndrome.

Post people were involved in many and various activities to support charities and community groups, including our Christmas fundraiser, Be Seen in Red and Green Day. A national activity for the first time this year, the day raised more than $200,000, which has been distributed to the Smith Family, the Starlight Foundation and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.