Christine Holgate giving evidence about the purchase of four Cartier watches,worth $19,950 in total,at a Senate estimates hearing last week.

Christine Holgate giving evidence about the purchase of four Cartier watches,worth $19,950 in total,at a Senate estimates hearing last week.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Legally,in my opinion there are no grounds for Ms Holgate to be stood down,and'optics'[is] not a legally-valid defence."

Mr Belling,in his statement,also referenced Mr Morrison'scomments in Parliament last Thursday,saying it was"now exactly seven days since Ms Holgate was the subject of a humiliating answer during question time".

In a fiery speech,Mr Morrison seized on revelations that Ms Holgate had rewarded employees with Cartier watches worth $20,000.

"So appalled and shocked was I by that behaviour... as any shareholder would in a company raise their outrage if they had seen that conduct by a chief executive,"he said last week.

He also indicated Ms Holgate faced the sack if she did not stand aside amid a federal government-led investigation into the gifts.

"We are the shareholders of Australia Post on behalf of the Australian people … she has been instructed to stand aside,if she doesn’t wish to do that,she can go,"he said.

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Mr Morrison's comments about the luxury watches followed revelations Ms Holgate spent about $300,000 on corporate credit cards and chauffeur-driven cars in the 2019/20 financial year.

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She also paid areputation management firm $119,000 for just 38 days' work for the organisation between June and July,and intervened on Senator Pauline Hanson's behalf when the City of Melbourne refused to deliver One Nation stubby holders to locked down public housing tower residents.

Mr Belling said Ms Holgate had received no communication from either the government or the Australia Post board aboutthe investigation into the watch purchases.

But Australia Post disputed this version of events in a statement on Thursday,saying it had been"communicating frequently with Ms Holgate regarding the current situation and ensuring the appropriate support has been provided".

"The chair stands by his previously made statement on Thursday 22 October that Ms Holgate will stand aside and this was agreed to by both parties in a telephone conversation,"the statement said.

The relationship between Ms Holgate and Australia Post chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo was set on a collision course last week,after he released a statementcorrecting her evidence to a Senate estimates hearing where she disclosed the watch purchases.

Mr Di Bartolomeo said the watches had cost a total of $19,950,not $12,000 as she had stated,and said the board had not formally approved the gifts.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said,"Questions about Ms Holgate's position are a matter for the board of Australia Post."

Mr Belling,an employment lawyer of 25 years'experience,said he released the statement because he had failed to receive a response to these matters after writing separately to the board and to Mr Di Bartolomeo.

He said general employment law required the board to formally notify Ms Holgate that she has been stood down,and the grounds for doing so.

"This is the case under general employment law,as well as the specifics of Australia Post's own employment regulations. The board has failed to do so,"Mr Belling said in the statement.

One source with knowledge of the situation,who spoke on the condition of anonymity,said Ms Holgate received a letter from Mr Di Bartolomeo on Sunday thanking her for standing aside during the investigation.

However,the source said Ms Holgate had not agreed at any point to stand aside,but instead offered to go on annual leave on Thursday after her appearance at Senate estimates. The source said this had been laid out in legal correspondence sent from Ms Holgate's team to the board.

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