Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The announcement of the Regional Banking Taskforce is very welcome news, and I now call on it to visit central-western New South Wales to hear and see firsthand the impact bank closures are having on our country communities. The creation of the task force is very positive. In fact, it's long overdue. I've been campaigning for months for an inquiry to be held into dwindling bank services in the bush. In our electorate this year, the Commonwealth Bank has pulled out of Molong and Blayney and halved its opening hours in Oberon, Wellington and Gulgong. Before that, the Commonwealth pulled out of Portland. And it's not just the Commonwealth. The NAB has closed its doors in Canowindra and Blayney, and the ANZ has pulled out of Cowra. And the list goes on and on; all of the banks are doing it.

Whenever there have been bank closures, our communities have come together to fight them and find a solution to keep country banking going. In Molong, Councillor Peter Batten, along with residents Mary Mulhall and Marj Bollinger, advocated for service retention, as did the Mayor of Cabonne, Kevin Beatty, and the Mayor of Blayney, Scott Ferguson. They all led campaigns to keep the branches open. But their combined voices weren't heard by the big banks.

Today, the Cabonne shire is home to nearly 14,000 people in 17 towns and villages, but it no longer has a single standalone bank branch. The ATM in Molong charges people $2.50 per use. It's regularly out of order, and, on many occasions, the town has literally run out of cash. The cold, hard truth is that the big banks like to advertise what great friends they are of country communities, but far too often their words are not matched by deeds.

Closing bank branches is very hard on senior Australians, who may not be able to travel to larger centres to do their banking and may not be able to access internet banking. I therefore call on the task force to come to our area to talk to those most affected by branch closures. Talk to the loyal bank customers, some of whom have banked with the big banks through the generations, since the days of pounds and shillings. Talk to local business owners, community groups and councils, who are all left to deal with the aftermath once the banks have closed their doors. We need to shine a light on what the big banks are doing in our country communities, and we need to make sure that our local stories are told and that our local voices are heard.