It is a blink-and-you-missed-it moment, but the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has announced a new regulation to protect cash transactions on essential products.
Well, sort of.
‘People are increasingly using digital payment methods, but there is an ongoing place for cash in our society under the Albanese government. The government will mandate that businesses must accept cash when selling essential items, with appropriate exemptions for small businesses,’ said Chalmers.
That’s interesting. We are left to ponder where this change of heart came from. A bit of polling among increasingly frustrated voters, perhaps? There is an election on the horizon.
Ask any retail store and they will tell you there are distinct payment preferences in different regions.
Some people shop with AfterPay. Others are into credit cards. Some only use Platinum Amex cards. And plenty like to keep cash in their wallets.
In typical government style, there is no definition for an essential item or what would happen if a shopper filled their cart with a mixture of essential and non-essential goodies. Will supermarkets, who have been proactive in trying to ditch cash, comply?
‘Cash is more than a payment method, it’s a lifeline,’ added Chalmers. It’s also legal tender and should be accepted without contest as the default.
‘Cash also provides an easily accessible back-up to digital payments in times of natural disaster or digital outages.’
Notice he didn’t mention the most likely culprit: power outages. That might hurt Chris Bowen’s feelings.
He goes on to name-drop regional areas who rely on cash because they are unable to use digital payments, most often because the NBN is a dud and there is no reception for a digital payment.
The problem for Chalmers is that it doesn’t matter what he tells businesses to do if he doesn’t put the hard yards in and regulate the banks. They have been shutting down ATMs at breakneck speed and closing regional branches. Rural communities have been complaining to the government that they no longer have in-person access to their bank (or their cash).
Chalmers is doing the right thing ensuring some (limited) security for cash, but it won’t help if he doesn’t protect the availability of cash.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton labelled the scheme ‘nothing more than a thought bubble’, rubbishing it on Sky News Australia on Monday.
‘We need cash in our society, that much is obvious. There is a trend in terms of cashlessness, but we still have the need for a currency in our society. And I don’t see any revelation in what the Treasurer’s announced or the thought bubble that he’s given rise to today.’
To be fair, Chalmers has considered a levy on banks for regional areas but this falls a long way shy of customer expectations. Dutton has opposed the levy claiming it would end up being paid by customers.
‘People can’t afford to pay their mortgages, their insurance bills are through the roof … I just don’t think Australians can afford another Labor tax. Families are really, really struggling under the Albanese government. They just can’t manage the economy, and the country is heading in the wrong direction.’
Okay, but hear me out. If Labor and Liberal can collaborate to ban social media for those under 16 (before Christmas, apparently), and they can tear down the entire energy system and spend hundreds of billions of dollars in public money on foreign renewable energy companies, what’s stopping them from working together to legislate ATM retention and branch availability as part of the banking licence?
It’s amazing what politicians can and can’t do depending on the day…