Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today it's a privilege to introduce the Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill 2024.

It has the support of many constituents in the Calare electorate and Australians around our great country.

I also introduce it with the support of the member for Kennedy, who has had a long interest in this vitally important national issue.

This groundbreaking legislation preserves the use of cash in our national economy. It's the result of many constituents in the Calare electorate contacting me to express their concerns and fears that the use of cash for transactions in our country is being phased out and will soon disappear.

It's true that the use of cash for transactions in Australia has been declining.

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia 2022 consumer payments survey, the ongoing decline in cash use in Australia has accelerated since the 2019 pandemic.

The share of in-person transactions made with cash halved from 32 per cent to 16 per cent over the three years to 2022.

The overall value of cash transactions stood at 13 per cent in 2022, also a decline.

Against this backdrop of the declining use of cash, constituents like Margaret Reid of Gulgong point out that many senior Australians are worried that businesses will soon refuse to accept cash for payments.

Australians like Margaret are right to be worried because while section 36(1) of the Reserve Bank Act 1959 provides that banknotes are legal tender, and the Currency Act 1965 provides that coins are legal tender, there is no legal requirement for banknotes or coins to be accepted for transactions in Australia.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission points out that businesses can choose what types of payment they will accept for a transaction as long as they make customers aware of this before the transaction takes place.

In other words, carrying Australian banknotes, legal tender, is no guarantee that you'll be able complete a purchase in cash. It's at the discretion of the business.

The Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill 2024 will remedy this by legislating that businesses operating in face-to-face settings must offer to accept and, crucially, must accept cash payments for transactions that do not exceed $10,000.

The bill provides for maximum civil penalties of $5,000 for individuals and $25,000 for companies. It should be noted that they are civil penalties as opposed to criminal penalties.

The bill also provides some important and practical exemptions to these requirements.

They include that offering to accept cash would:

Many of our seniors have been calling for this legislation to protect the use of cash.

The RBA found that Australians over the age of 65 are the heaviest users of cash. Pensioners such as Max and Fay Gregory of the Calare electorate have told me that for many older Australians, cash is not just a convenience—it's a lifeline. In these times of economic uncertainty and rising costs, cash is an essential tool for managing finances and sticking to a budget.

Many senior Australians simply do not want to use cards for their transactions. Not everyone is able to use online banking services. Many find managing accounts and cards online to be stressful, and confusing.

Cash is often used in rural areas by individuals who do not have ready access to banking services.

Max and Fay fear that if they are forced to switch to cards, they will face additional fees.

They make a very good point. Many Australians are now understanding that banks and financial institutions charge merchant fees for card transactions, which can then be passed on to consumers. It's an insidious tax that is added to transactions just for tapping a card.

It's been estimated that Australians are losing about $1 billion a year in surcharges when they pay by cards and not cash.

It must be said that many businesses don't like those merchant fees and surcharges either.

And, as a crucial matter, we must consider the practicalities of internet connectivity. In many regional and rural areas, reliable internet access does not exist. Cash remains a dependable means of exchange that does not rely on electricity or internet access.

Cash transactions are unaffected by digital failures. During natural disasters like fires or floods, connectivity can be disrupted for many days, sometimes longer, rendering electronic payments unusable.

As I've said, some Australians prefer cash as a means of managing their budgets.

Others worry about privacy and the risk of fraud associated with using cards. Many Australians have been the victim of fraud and unauthorised transactions relating to cards and the accounts linked to them. I know I have been.

Privacy is another reason that some Australians prefer to use cash over cards. Some people just don't want corporations knowing every single thing they buy. And that should be their choice.

Another constituent, Daniel Belshaw, also wrote to my office expressing his alarm over the phasing out of cash transactions, and he worries about the consequences for children's financial literacy. He believes the use of cash can assist in teaching valuable lessons about budgeting, making choices and understanding the value of money.

This bill is not about imposing burdensome regulations on businesses. It's about striking a balance between innovation and inclusivity. It's about preserving the essence of choice in our financial transactions.

The Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill is all about freedom—the freedom for Australians to choose how they will pay for transactions.

It's not a choice that should be made for them by financial institutions or businesses.

I urge all members of this House to support this game-changing bill.

Together, let's keep cash transactions in Australia!

I commend the bill to the House and cede the rest of my speaking time to the great member for Kennedy.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. I take great pleasure in seconding the motion on this bill, the Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill 2024. Where I come from, we have firsthand knowledge of going two weeks without electricity after a cyclone. During most cyclones we lose electricity. We're at the end of the carrying line for the electricity, so we have no relay protection, and on numerous occasions, again and again, our little towns are caught out. Famous race meetings, like the races at Borroloola, often lose their ability to use cards.

But the real essence of this bill is: do you want your bank manager to decide whether or not you can buy a loaf of bread? There is no doubt that we're running pell-mell into some sort of dystopian society in which a handful of people control every aspect of our lives. I repeat: do you realise that, if you eliminate cash, you will have to get the permission of your bank manager to buy a loaf of bread? There would be few people in this country who haven't at some time or other got offside with their bank manager. And he might think it's good not to cash your cheques or allow you to use your card.

When I was appointed Aboriginal affairs minister in Queensland, the first question I got in every community was: 'Can we get the right to cash our socials?'—their social security payments. That's because the director of the department was using it as a control mechanism to terrify every single person, 70,000 or 80,000 people, living in the community areas in Queensland. I can tell you that, if they were terrified, the rest of you are going to have the wind put right up you if you move into this area.

In actual fact, the common law has recognised, as have the written laws of Australia, that a banknote is legal tender. You are obliged to take that banknote, as you yourself, Mr Speaker, and I advised the refectory in this place. To spell it out boldly and bluntly without any equivocation: it's absolutely necessary. I commend the member for Calare for bringing this bill forward. It is definitely something for which the time has arrived. It is an imperative assertion of freedom and an underlying principle of our freedom—that is, the right to purchase something. If that right is taken off us and given to the banks then the freedoms in this country have ceased to exist and Nineteen Eighty-Four has arrived upon us.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allocated for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.