Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the Government is making sure that Australians can continue to pay with cash for essential items if they want to, while also ensuring an orderly transition to phasing out cheques;

(2) notes the Government's plan will:

(a) mandate that businesses must accept cash when selling essential items, with appropriate exemptions for small businesses; and

(b) ensure that cash can be used for essential purchases, such as groceries and fuel, so that those who rely on cash will not be left behind; and

(3) welcomes the Government's acknowledgement that while Australians are increasingly using digital payment methods, there is an ongoing place for cash in our society.

The motion this morning is about the House acknowledging that the Albanese government is making sure that Australians can continue to pay with cash for essential items if they want to while also ensuring an orderly transition to the phasing out of cheques. Note that the government's plan will mandate that businesses must accept cash when selling essential items, with appropriate exemptions for small businesses, and ensure that cash can be used for essential purchases such as groceries and fuel so that those who rely on cash will not be left behind.

As the member for Lalor, I welcome our action on this. We're acting because of what we know. We know that around 1.5 million adult Australians rely on cash to make more than 80 per cent of in-person payments. We also know the number of businesses refusing to accept cash is growing as cash use in Australia declines. Some of that decline is incremental; RBA data from 2022 shows that up to 94 per cent of businesses reported accepting cash for payments, and that's a decline from 99 per cent of businesses just prior to the COVID pandemic. That feels like a small number, but it translates into millions of Australians feeling that, given our economy and the way we use money, they're being left behind in the process. The RBA data also shows that around half of Australia's businesses plan to move away from cash payments in the near future. All of this means that we as members of parliament can all see that this is going to make some Australians very nervous, particularly where they are accustomed to using cash and they have faith in a system that they've known.

We know that the demography here is that older Australians are those more likely to be concerned about this and less likely to have moved into non-cash arrangements in their personal lives. In my electorate there are 17,000 pensioners, if you look at those in that older category, and I believe that they deserve the right to depend on cash. The Albanese Labor government will ensure that no-one is left to fall through the cracks, implementing action to ensure that people can use cash for their purchases, particularly for essential purposes.

We know there's a place to cash in our society, and we can't deny older Australians this right. The announcement has been well received by both community groups and businesses as well as by individuals who simply prefer using cash in their transactions. Whether it's at the supermarket checkout or the local petrol station, when it comes down to the essentials, Australians will have the comfort of knowing they can pay in cash. This is incredibly important. We're doing this work to ensure that, for people in low-income or disadvantaged communities, who often face barriers to accessing digital banking, cash is available for them and available for use. This also allows those without smartphones or reliable internet access or bank accounts to purchase essentials.

If a storm hits, if we cut the power off, if the power gets cut off, if a bushfire breaks out, if we have to force families to evacuate or if telecommunication lines fail, it can leave people without access to banks. Part of this is how we ensure that those people can still access the essentials they need. We know that in recent years there have been two ways we can do this. In some instances, cash becomes primary; in other instances we actually need the capacity for government to pay into people's accounts electronically to ensure that they can do these things.

In a world where we're potentially in transition, I think it's critical that we continue to ensure that members of our community can conduct their business in cash. Currently, there's not a legal requirement for businesses to do that. We're going to work through a consultation process, get the settings right and bring this before the House as soon as is practical to ensure that businesses have clarity about the future but also that we're looking after those people in our communities who want to use cash for their essentials. They deserve to be able to use cash for their essentials and should be able to rely on a government to make sure that's possible in the future.

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