Advances in technology – particularly the take-up of broadband – have caused a shift away from over-the-counter bill payments. This has been increased by billers actively discouraging in-person transactions by imposing credit card surcharges, giving discounts for online payments or mandating direct debit bill payments.

Australia Post is still the pre-eminent in-person bill payment provider but we experienced a decline in over-the-counter payments during 2006/07, with the number of transactions falling to 158 million (164 million last year). Accordingly, from October 2007, we will be withdrawing our registered phone and Internet bill payment services, electronic bill presentment service, and Billmanager. Australia Post will continue to provide over-the-counter, telephone and Internet access for ad-hoc credit card bill payments. These changes will ensure that we continue to offer our customers reliable, high-quality and efficient bill payment options – focusing on the services they prefer to use.

Australia Post has been providing proof of identity services for some time. However, over recent years, these have become a much more important part of our agency services business, with growth in demand driven by the tightening of industry and government regulations and by efforts to prevent fraud. We are also actively pursuing new opportunities in this burgeoning market. In 2006/07, we achieved a 25 per cent increase in identity-related transactions, with revenue growth of 56 per cent.

To support this growth, we introduced a number of major operational, system and procedural changes to ensure high levels of compliance and customer satisfaction. This includes new software that speeds up the process involved in 100-point identification checks.

We currently carry out 100-point identification checks for 39 financial institutions and we perform a variety of other proof of identity services for a further 23 businesses and government bodies. New clients in 2006/07 included WorkSafe Victoria, the Victorian WorkCover Authority and NSW Teachers Credit Union.

We also carried out 1.16 million passport interviews during 2006/07 on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and we now handle around 95 per cent of Australian passport applications. To complement this service, in 2006/07 we increased the number of outlets offering instant passport photos to more than 1,000 outlets (from 869 the previous year). By June 2008, we intend to be able to offer this service at around 2,000 outlets.

In an exciting development this year, we joined with VeriSign to provide VIP Online Security – a unique form of security to help reduce Internet banking fraud. (See auspost.com.au/viponlinesecurity for more information.) We signed our first VIP Online Security customer, NSW Teachers Credit Union, in February 2007.

Our Bank@Post agency banking service allows customers to make deposits, withdrawals, credit card payments and balance enquiries with over 75 Australian financial institutions. Around 3,300 Australia Post outlets now offer electronic banking, including 1,467 in remote and rural locations.

In 2006/07, we processed 28 million banking transactions – 5.6 per cent fewer than last year – which reflects the continuing effect of online banking and the expansion of EFTPOS cash-out and ATM networks around the country.

Australia Post is the largest agent for Western Union Money Transfer in Australia, with transaction volumes increasing by 25 per cent in 2006/07. Sales of American Express® Travellers Cheques and foreign cash also increased by 21 per cent.

During 2006/07, we introduced a new travel money product – the Travelex Cash Passport – which offers travellers a safe and convenient way to take their money overseas. The PIN-protected Cash Passport card can be used to withdraw cash at more than a million Visa ATMs around the world.