Jason Bryce, Freelance Journalist

There are now three federal government or senate inquiries that affect cash and all three now have no alternative but to recommend ways to protect our right to use and access cash.

While banks continue to restrict access to cash, Australians are continuing to find ways to get and use cash. The cashless society increasingly seems to be just a myth.

The latest data from the Reserve Bank of Australia shows that ATM cash withdrawals were up by 260,000 to 29.2 million in September 2023.

The number or value of ATM cash withdrawals in Australia per month has not changed substantially since the end of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Meanwhile, 424 bank branches and 718 bank-owned ATMs have disappeared so Australians are looking for cash and trying hard to find cash access points.

There is a feeling that there is a plan to herd us cashless against our will. That’s not good for social cohesion and trust and can lead to fake news. Thankfully, there is no President Biden plan to take the world cashless.

But there is the ever-growing Chinese social credit system that is now affecting people outside China. Here is an article for people doing business in China about how to score highly on the social credit system.

Here is a reputable article on how companies should advise their employees travelling to China about the social credit system.

In Australia, big institutions and multi-national companies want our fees and valuable data. We need to show the politicians that cash is national economic infrastructure.

If we allow the cash system to be dismantled, it can’t be turned back on instantly when needed.

Last week I made a submission to the Senate’s Optus Outage Inquiry from Cash Welcome. You can read it here.

We all know what happened on Wednesday 8th October when Optus left much of Australia unable to make purchases or accept payments.

The impact of outages on individuals, businesses and the economy is magnified by a lack of cash access points in local communities. When cash is not in general circulation and easily accessible, whole suburbs and towns can grind to a halt, unable to make the simplest financial transactions.

Here is our appearance talking about this on Sunrise last Thursday morning.

This is an interview with Tony Moclair on 3AW “Optus was a wakeup call but we’ve lost control of our information” from 22.00 minutes in.

Strategic Plan for Payments

Treasury’s Strategic Plan for Australia’s Payment System must now conclude that cash is essential national economic infrastructure and protect our right to access and use cash.

Cash Welcome made a submission. Check it out here. and feel free to copy or use our information for your own submission.

Here is the original media release from Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Inquiry into bank branch closures

The Senate’s Rural and regional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into bank branch closures is also looking at access to cash. ATMIA and I have met with Senator Linda White (ALP, Vic) who is supportive and accepted our petition. Cash Welcome also made a submission to this inquiry. You can read it here.

Our petition

All our submissions are pointing to what our growing petition is calling for:

1) A right to choose cash to buy food and essential groceries at physical retailers (like supermarkets).

2) A right to access cash in our local community.

Our petition calling for an Australian Banking and Cash Guarantee is still live and collecting signatures. Please sign it and share it widely through your networks (don’t donate to the change.org site):

https://www.change.org/BankingAndCashGuarantee

Here is Cash Welcome in the media from the last couple of weeks:

talking about reliability in payments

talking about the Optus Outage

talking about the cashless society

talking about cashless checkouts

‘exposing cost of cashless society‘

and getting the accountants on board.

The United Kingdom has just guaranteed local access to cash for all citizens.

The UK government expects banks to provide an ATM within three miles of the vast majority of all citizens. His Majesty’s Treasury announced on 18 August 2023:

“The vast majority of people and businesses are set to be no further than three miles away from withdrawing cash under a new framework set out by the Treasury.

A government statement published today (18 August 2023) set the minimum expectations on banks to protect services for people and businesses wanting to withdraw or deposit cash.

They can expect to withdraw cash without any fees – something that has been set out in law.”

Cash usage is widespread in the Euro zone.

Cash acceptance at the retail point of sale is law throughout Europe.

The European Union has a strategy to protect cash. But some countries don’t believe this is enough and are acting by themselves and going further to protect the rights of their citizens to access and use cash.

Retailers in France must also comply with a French mandate to accept cash which is enforceable by police. France has a cash strategy.

The Banque de France says:

“Banknotes and coins are still the most frequently used means of payment in Europe and in France…. 95% of businesses in France accept cash, of which 99% intended to continue to do so in the years to come… In France, net banknote issuance reached €198 billion in December 2022, up 7.5% year-on-year.”

The Austrian President has flagged a referendum to enshrine cash rights in the Austrian constitution. Cash is the most popular payment method in Austria.

Sweden is the most cashless economy in the world. In 2022, the Swedish Riksbank became subject to new regulations requiring it to ensure ATM access to cash in all local communities.

A bipartisan bill before US Congress, introduced by New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne and Tennessee Republican John Rose, seeks to ban businesses from rejecting cash for in-person retail purchases .Read more about the bill here.

Washington D.C. banned cashless retailers back in 2018 but has just started enforcing that ban with fines from 1 October 2023.

Bans on cashless retailers are rolling through the USA with cities leading the way. Key among their concerns are the rights of marginalised and poor people.

Since 2020, New York City has banned cashless retailers. The first instances of fines for cashless retailers began appearing in the media in 2021.

San Francisco banned cashless retail in 2019, including Berkeley, and fines shops that don’t comply. Now Los Angeles is following suit. The LA City Council is seeking a ban on cashless retailers.