Politicians have criticised a Queensland postman who allegedly dumped about $13,000 worth of postal vote applications in a bin on his delivery run, and then tried to bribe a resident after he was caught.

A Queensland grandmother, Annette Weller, who lives in the electorate of Blair, in western Brisbane and marginally held by Labor’s Shayne Neumann, caught the postman on CCTV dumping a stack of letters into her wheelie bin.

The CCTV shows Weller approaching the postman, asking him about the incident.

The footage then shows him apologising and offering Weller $10 after she told him LNP Senator Paul Scarr, whose office had sent the letters, was on his way to collect the pile.

Scarr said his office had contracted Australia Post to deliver the postal vote applications at a cost of $13,000.

He has asked for an investigation into Australia Post, questioning “how widespread the issue is”.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, speaking in Brisbane on Saturday morning, said Australians, no matter what political persuasion they may be, expect their mail to be delivered.

“When we pay for it, we expect it to get to those voters,” he said.

“It is deeply disappointing when you see instances such as this, where large numbers of postal vote applications that could have been very important, especially senior Australians who use postal votes to be able to safely vote, particularly in times of a pandemic.”