Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset, I'd like to acknowledge the hard work that the member for Calare has done, not only on this bill but on a whole range of issues through his career. He served with dignity in the New South Wales state parliament, and then in the federal parliament since 2016. He stood up for veterans, making the case to his own party that they needed to deal with the backlog in veterans' claims, and he has taken a principled stand to move to the crossbench. I haven't heard any members of the National Party in here with the passion, dedication and focus on the issue of cash that the member for Calare brings to the debate, and the government acknowledges his important contribution. The Treasurer's office has been pleased to discuss the issue with the member for Calare on 11 occasions since June of last year and welcomes his thoughtful engagement with it. We've seen a significant change in Australians' spending patterns over the course of the last couple of decades. As the government's consultation paper on the cash mandate makes clear, in 2007, the Reserve Bank estimated that about three-quarters of retail transactions were conducted by cash. In 2022 that number was down to 13 per cent. That's why, on 18 November last year, the Treasurer and the Assistant Treasurer announced a cash mandate for essential services which would ensure an ongoing place for cash in society.

Right now, 94 per cent of businesses accept cash. We know that the risk of cash not being accepted looms large for particular groups of vulnerable Australians. Some of those have been mentioned in this debate: older Australians, migrants, lower income Australians and the unbanked. These are Labor's people. These are the people who typically suffer when the coalition is in office and who Labor has fought to look after in every budget we've brought down since we've come to office. There are around 1.5 million Australians for whom cash makes up over four-fifths of their retail transactions. For them, it's more than a payment method; it is a lifeline.

But cash is also an important backup in instances of natural disasters. It is a form of financial system resilience. The government's consultation paper quotes numbers from the Reserve Bank around the frequency of such outages. They have occurred hundreds or, in some categories of outage, thousands of times per year. While the system has a resiliency rate of over 99 per cent, those outages, when they occur, can be extremely damaging. We've seen, in the instance of floods and fires, the online payment systems struggle to keep pace. It is therefore critical that cash is available.

So the government has announced a mandate to ensure that Australians can continue to pay cash for essential items if they want to, while providing appropriate exemptions for small business. That announcement has been well received by community groups, by the business community and by individuals who prefer to use cash. Cash Welcome campaign spokesperson Jason Bryce said:

This is exactly what we have been asking for.

Whether it's at the supermarket or filling up at the petrol station, when Australians are paying for things they need they will have the comfort of knowing that they can pay in cash.

Labor's targeted approach balances the needs of the community with the impact on business. We want to avoid putting extra pressure on small businesses through big fines, particularly at a time when they're doing it tough.

We are consulting on exactly what the definition of 'essential services' would be. The consultation paper sets out a proposal that essential goods and services would include: most bread and cereal products; meat; seafood; milk and cheese; fruit and vegetables; tea; coffee; children's clothing; utilities, including water, sewerage, electricity and gas; child care; cleaning and maintenance products; personal care products; medicines; fuels; spare parts; car maintenance and repair services; postal services; pet products; veterinary services; preschool; primary and secondary education; and compulsory insurance. The government recognises the importance of cash being available in those categories.

A cash mandate isn't unusual. A range of US states have them in place, including Colorado, Massachusetts and New York, as do a range of countries, including Austria, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

There is also a pleasure in using cash. As the assistant minister responsible for the Royal Australian Mint, I can't help noting that the Mint is the biggest manufacturing enterprise here in the ACT, churning out a range of fabulous coins that Australians can enjoy. The Bluey Dollarbuck, the Donation Dollar, the Year of the Snake lunar coin, the tooth fairy coin and the desert life series of coins are among the wonderful coins churned out by the Royal Australian Mint, encouraging Australians to continue to reflect on our culture and our history while paying in cash.

The government has also been concerned about securing regional banking services, because, if you don't have regional banking services, it can be hard to get hold of that essential cash that the member for Calare has so rightly talked about in this debate today.

This week the Treasurer, the Assistant Treasurer and the Minister for Communications have announced that they have secured from the major banks a moratorium on bank branch closures for 2½ years. That involves the National Australia Bank committing to a new moratorium on regional branch closures and the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac extending their existing moratoriums, alongside the conditions imposed by the government on the ANZ and Suncorp, ensuring no regional branch closures by those banks before 31 July 2027. This is important because, since 2017, 36 per cent of bank branches in regional Australia have closed. The government is stepping up to arrest the decline in regional banking services, and we've asked the banking sector to increase its commitment to and investment in regional banking through the new Bank@Post arrangements with Australia Post.

Following discussions with the government and Australia Post, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac have all reached in-principle Bank@Post agreements, and ANZ has agreed key terms on which it will join the service. That shores up the financial outlook for Bank@Post and provides greater certainty and choice to banking customers, particularly in rural and regional areas. The government also welcomes the decision by Macquarie and HSBC to start negotiations with Australia Post on Bank@Post services. The government will continue to work with regulators, industry and the community to ensure that our regions have access to fit-for-purpose and sustainable banking services over the long term.

The Albanese government is standing up for the regions and standing up for vulnerable Australians on the issue of cash. The government's consultation paper is available on the Treasury website. Submissions are open until this Friday—Valentine's Day. So, for those listening to parliament who are wondering what they will be doing on Valentine's Day, well, penning a submission to the government's cash mandate paper is an option for how you can spend your Valentine's Day!

The issue of cash acceptance is one of great importance to the government. The government wants to get this right. We intend to have that mandate in place from the beginning of next year. Again, I want to thank the member for Calare for his thoughtful engagement on this and many other issues of public policy. The parliament is better for his energy, for his activism and for his focus on issues that are so often neglected by the National Party, which says that it looks after regional Australia but too often turns its back on the bush.

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