Residents of a rural Queensland town have only just started receiving mail that was posted back in November, prompting calls for Australia Post to lift its game.
The five-month wait for locals in the Aboriginal community of Doomadgee, in the state's north-west, was brought about by flooding that impacted much of the Gulf of Carpentaria this wet season.
Roads were cut off by floodwater for several months, isolating about 1,500 residents in Doomadgee and the neighbouring towns of Burketown, Gregory, Karumba, and Normanton.
Community leaders say waiting five months for mail to be delivered "is not good enough" and are calling on Australia Post to do better.
"Essential services are completely failing communities like Doomadgee," said Gangalidda man and traditional owner Barry Walden who has lived in the town for 57 years.
"We should not be forced to live like we're in a third world country."
While some packages cannot be delivered by air mail, Mr Walden says many residents are missing out on important documents and basic items.
"People are waiting on court and financial documents, bank letters and car registrations, and people end up in really bad financial situations because a letter is sent out in December and you don't receive it until May and by then an institution has taken legal action against you," he said.
With few shops in town other than the local grocery store, residents rely heavily on ordering packages.
"A lot of kids miss out on celebrating birthdays or Christmas because we can't get the mail delivered," Mr Walden said.
He called on Australia Post to improve its services to remote communities.
"Stop honouring the contract and start honouring the people. That's why you're here. You're an essential service," Mr Walden said.
Urgent upgrades required
Doomadgee Shire Council chief executive Troy Fraser was among gulf leaders who travelled to Canberra in April to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
They called for $75 million worth of upgrades to roads and bridges in their region to ensure communities were never again isolated for such an extensive period.
"We have to build resilient communities and a big part of that for us is dramatically improving road access to energy, food and fuel," Mr Fraser said.
"We need to ensure we are still part of a conversation that will see some changes in our remote communities."
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles visited the region to inspect flood damage, but Mr Walden was not hopeful of any improvements.
"We're a forgotten community out here, except for when government ministers need a bit of PR [public relations] with an Aboriginal community," he said.
"They come out here … then they walk away and take their promises with them."
In a statement to the ABC, Australia Post said it was working with delivery contractors to resume road delivery for larger parcels to the community as soon as it was safe to do so.
