Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians and small businesses work hard for their money, and every dollar counts. Yet every time someone taps their card for coffee or groceries, everyone is hit with digital payment fees that stack up. These fees cost Aussies hundreds of dollars a year and some small businesses tens of thousands of dollars a year. In hearings in October banks confirmed that digital payments are much cheaper to process than the alternative. Of course they are. But we live in this upside-down world where it costs us more to use digital payments than the non-digital alternative. This makes no sense, and it has to stop. It's time to change the payment system because the current system is unfair for small businesses and it's unfair for consumers.

The government has heard the calls for change, and this is good news. Both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer announced that a Labor government would ban debit card surcharges pending the RBA's current review of merchant costs and surcharges. This is huge. It is a real signal that the rort that goes on now needs to stop and is set to change. Labor wants a fair go for small businesses, who get smashed with high fees, and a fee-free option for consumers, who are unfairly charged more to use the cheaper payment method at the check-out. Australians have had enough of this rort, and the government is on their side.