The lawyer representing embattled Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate accuses the Prime Minister of humiliating his client in Parliament, saying there is no legal reason for her to stand aside.

The lawyer representing embattled Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate has accused the Prime Minister of humiliating his client in Parliament.
Key points:

• Ms Holgate’s lawyer says he does not think there is legal ground for his client to be stood down
• Last week, Ms Holgate stood aside after an investigation was ordered into why senior executives were given Cartier watches
• Australia Post spent $20,000 on the watches for four members of staff in 2018

Last week, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher and Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an investigation into the purchase of four Cartier watches worth $20,000 as gifts to senior executives in 2018.
Mr Fletcher said he told the Australia Post chair to ask Ms Holgate to stand aside while the inquiry was underway.
In a statement, Ms Holgate’s lawyer Bryan Belling said his client would support a fair investigation but he believed there were no legal grounds for her to be stood down.
“It is now exactly seven days since Ms Holgate was the subject of a humiliating answer during Question Time,” he wrote.
“It is incumbent on the board to formally notify Ms Holgate that she has been stood down, and this notification must stipulate the grounds for this action the board has failed to do so.
“Legally, in my opinion there are no grounds for Ms Holgate to be stood down, and ‘optics’ is not a legally valid defence.”
Mr Morrison told Parliament last week he was “appalled” and that the gifts were “disgraceful and not on”, after Ms Holgate told Senate Estimates about the purchase of the four luxury watches.
“We are the shareholders of Australia Post on behalf of the Australian people,” he said at the time.
“The chief executive has been instructed to stand aside, if she doesn’t wish to do that, she can go.” 
He also said the Government was seeking legal advice about whether Ms Holgate should continue to receive her $27,000-a-week salary while the investigation takes place.
Ms Holgate said the watches were a gift on behalf of the chair and herself for a small group of people who worked to secure a multi-million-dollar deal.
Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate argues the Prime Minister humiliated her.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
Conflicting reports on communications
Mr Belling goes onto say he was “left with no choice but to publish this statement” after receiving no replies from the board and chairman of Australia Post despite writing to them in the past week.
A statement from an Australia Post spokesperson said Ms Holgate and the chair agreed over the phone that she would stand aside.
“Australia Post has been communicating frequently with Ms Holgate regarding the current situation and ensuring appropriate support has been provided,” they said in a statement.
“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 offices of both the Communications Minister and the Prime Minister said this was a matter for Australia Post.