Why Has Australia’s Transition To A Cashless Society Raised Concerns About
Financial Exclusion?
While demand for cash to pay for everyday transactions is falling, some
experts argue physical currency still has a vital role to play in society.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), cash accounted for just 13% of
all payments made in 2022. The ability to pay by tapping our phones is
partly driving the downward trend. Even credit cards, or debit cards are
starting to feel a bit outdated. Cash payments plummeted during the first two
years of the coronavirus pandemic, when online shopping spiked, and they show
little sign of bouncing back. What are your thoughts LiveTribers? Why has
Australia’s transition to a cashless society raised concerns about
financial exclusion?
Posted by on 22 Oct 2023
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vegandelight
I will have another go at responding to the topic opening, as there are a number
of questions embedded in there. The subject opens a huge can of worms, but
sticking to topic and answering the final question of "why has our transition...
raised concerns about financial exclusion?"... because over one quarter of all
Australians (about 6.7 million people) are fully digitally excluded! This latest
data comes ahead of the Senate Inquiry into regional bank branch closures in
Kingston SE, South Australia and is taken from the Digital Inclusion Index.
Actually, at various times in our lives, like internet outages, power outages,
hackety-hacks and natural disasters, ALL Australians need access to physical
banking services and cash. However, this whole quarter of the population
absolutely rely on this ALL of the time... there's nothing else! That's one part
of the answer, that people are excluded because digital channels are not an
option. The other side of the coin (which they don't want to issue any more, but
we'll save that one for another rainy day), is banks are willfully excluding
people from having bank accounts for silly reasons. Your business operates on
cash-only? Let's just close that account! You gamble online? That account is
locked until you change your behavior and sign this agreement. You donated $500
to those truckers who have just laid siege to NYC today following Trump's
illegal trial? Account frozen! You once were a criminal who has served their
sentence? No, we won't let you open an account here today. Digital banking is
all about control (and huge profits with no service!) and can only exist in an
environment without any effective regulation, as we have now. All it needs is
the return of our public bank (privatized in 1996) which very effectively and
single-handedly regulated all private banks until its last breath.
The first thing to do is question where that falsified, cherry-picked data comes
from. From the RBA's website, they conduct a survey once every 3 years. In a
country of 26,699,482 people (macrotrends, 2024), can you guess the sample size
the mighty RBA has selected? Exactly one thousand city dwellers targeted to
their destructive agenda - and it never changes despite our increasing
population! Digital Financial Analytics run by Martin North has bigger sample
sizes than this, and more often too! How long did each survey last? A month
would be a good indication, no? A year would cover annual insurance premiums,
council rates, etc... but no... it lasted a week! Pfftt! What's more, this was a
survey which relies on honesty and integrity and not something that was
measured. Furthermore, said survey was only covering in-person transactions at a
variety of businesses, many of which used to accept cash, but now no longer do.
This is all on the RBA website and should accompany any citation of falling cash
use. We are Not transitioning to cash-less-ness in the near future. What we are
transitioning to is a cash-less agenda fueled by a propaganda onslaught which
you sheep all need to urgently wake up to! The banks also lied about cheques.
I'll show you later how they skewed the data on that one as well.
Cash free is to eliminate the use of paper, decrease the trees that are cut down
for paper. Cash seems so 1980s, where people used to collect the bills, now it's
a different generation and people want the pay faster. There is huge risk with
cashless, the banks are no good and often come up with excuses why a person
should not receive digital payments from anyone in the world. There is
absolutely no certainty in the world with digital, it is the newer form and less
stable. Internet hackers are on the rise, Government hacks up bank accounts with
fees and more fees piling high before turning to the street to rob people of all
their money with their credit card machines and ransoms. The money not being
cash is just a quick and easy transfer and it is costing citizens lifestyle when
they realize they are paying more fees and caught in more government money
crimes than realizing they have money at all. Money is a fun number, no one
realizes how much they lose when it is digital.
During the pandemic, a lot of shops didn't take cash as a form of payment. This
disadvantaged the elderly and the vulnerable. People started shopping online
more as they were not able to leave their houses. This was especially true in
Melbourne where we had 6 lockdowns and we had one of the world's most strict
lockdown rules.
My understanding is that there are many people in our Society that Banks will
not allow them to have Bank Accounts and/or Credit Cards so cash is their only
option.
With the latest OPTUS issue recently.. I don't believe that removing case form
society is a good thing.
Obviously the bank's do as it will save more money for them.
We can choose to use it more and therefore weaken the cause to eliminate it all
together.
Yes the Optus issue was a major disruption for a lot of businesses and people.
Luckily I wasn't affected in any way but it shows we do need other options like
cash to use in those situations.
Cash gives us the ability to pay for our purchases when digital systems go down.
We can pay for things without leaving a trail. We don't pay fees to use credit &
some businesses charge us to use debit cards. Cash is not part of a social
credit system.
Everyone must be included in this discussion. Some people do not trust credit
card providers and only want to use cash - they also need to be considered.
I don't believe in these statistics, I know heaps of people using cash on a
regular basis, my 86 year old mum and all her friends still do. You need cash if
you go to a garage sale or market too. I did hear that people are beginning to
hoard cash in their homes in case the internet goes down, has happened a lot. So
we still need cash, keep using it folks. Also everytime you use a card the value
of money goes down while each provider gets their cut. Cash is stable.
Feel like it's more of an issue on regional infrastructure vs urban
infrastructure and the opportunity to learn new tech. There are remote places
that don't have stable internet connection and are completely reliant on cash
and young people are more likely to learn new tech.
One can only hope we do not descend into a cashless society. There are certain
stores which will not accept cash now. That is their choice, however by doing
so, they are denying purchasers acces to their products. That needs to be
outlawed as cash is still legal tender in Australia, and there will always be a
demand to use same. By going cashless and using credit and debit cards, we are
only helping the huge profits of the card supplies like Visa and Mastercard as
they charge the businesses for that service.
There will be a day where systems will go down and cash would have been a short
term solution. We should have the choice to make payments through various
options.
Yes I've seen this happen a few times where people were unable to access their
online accounts due to outages and cash was the only way to pay. I do most
things online but I still think we need cash as well. I know someone who is old
and won't use anything other than cash. He doesn't trust technology and there
would be more people like him out there who would be lost without cash as an
option.
I have several friends who make every effort to pay in cash instead of other
methods. The post office is a great place as they still accept cash while
councils don't so I will be paying my rates and other things at the PO.
The insistence of organizations that we pay bills by direct debit or online has
added to the demise of cash, with fees for a paper statement or paying by cash.
Plus, things cost so much now that we just can't carry with us the amounts
needed. I resent going cashless because it means every single transaction is a
digital record that can be sold or farmed off in some way. It's not just about
tax avoidance, it's a method of developing a social credit system. It's nobody's
business how I spend my money. I encourage people to use cash when you can -
you'll miss it if it's gone.
I agree and many of us are trying to use cash whenever we can - it's time the
government listened to what the people want. Surely we can have both - cash for
those who prefer it, cards etc for others.
It would be a shame to have cash disappear entirely, and I do use cards, but
cash is still needed as it's handy in certain ways.
From small donated change, to just buying a loaf of bread or milk.
And when the banks have issues with their cash machines we certainly miss it
then.
It's up to us to keep using it..at least sometimes..or it will eventually be put
out of existence.
I'm a hard working, semi honest tradie who is quite partial to the occasional
cash job. A lot of my clients won't use anything else, ever. The way I see it is
that big business, like the tax man, is trying to put a lot of us working folks
out of business.
Mum was telling me that she recently had to buy a few things in Big W. There was
a staff member stationed at the front, verbally informing everyone that they had
no eftpos, so was cash only. Mum said that she only uses cash and walked , got
her shop done no problem. My mum is 84 and at the start of dementia. She never
had a credit card. How do you now change the life of an 84yr old who is getting
paranoid and has a split personality due to early stages of dementia!!
Once we no longer have cash as an option we will lose even more of our freedoms
and privacy. Everything we buy or sell will be monitored by the banks and big
businesses and eventually, they will be able to decide if we will even be
allowed to spend our money and when they will allow us to spend our money. If
they decide that we shouldn't buy meat because they want more vegetarians this
week all they would have to do is deny us the right to use our plastic in
Butcher shops or Colesworth meat departments. On top of that, they will be able
to increase fees and charges when we use their cards as we won't have the option
anymore to pay with cash to avoid them. Finally what about the people who don't
have or want to use the technology? Are they supposed to starve or be jailed
because they can only use cash?
as an oler person, I see and hear others of my vintage say that they don'tlike
change such as technology and that it is easier to us that hackers can get hack
into a phone and take all information. Thus to keep as much separated as
possible is our way of thinking.
I do prefer to pay by cash when I can BUT the Real truth why cash has dropped so
much in last 2 years is because with Australia cost of living SO SKY HIGH, Most
of us just Don't have Any money left over after paying our living expenses,
Bills and everything else that we pay for, so spending money is RARE.
I am in full agreement with Aussie 5 and Kay. And I really object when I am
paying for an airline flight for instance who do not allow any other way to pay
other than by credit card for them to charge a surcharge. The flights are
expensive enough as it is, so why is an added surcharge put on to the payment?
Cheques have gone by the bye these days, but I wouldn't have minded a surcharge
on them as it was possible to be paid by a dud cheque [someone who didn't have
enough funds in their bank to cover it]. But a credit card is rejected
immediately if there are insufficient funds, so why the surcharge? Also it is
not like they have to go to the bank to deposit the cheque either. Paying for
small items on a card like a coke for $1.20 seems wrong to me, so I much prefer
cash. Stores these days actually have signs up saying "Cash accepted here". The
other problem I see coming up is blackouts. If we don't have sufficient energy
to power all the electronics in the store, then we will be unable to pay for the
goods we have purchased. and with our headlong flight into renewable energy
before we have fully set up what will replace it, there will definitely be quite
a few blackouts. Think we are all in for a very rocky ride in the future.
Well said and in total agreeance. Also, there goes the Tooth Fairy thrill for
kids to find a coin where the tooth was or pocket money etc. I do not use a
mobile phone for payments etc. as these seem to be hacked all the time anyway
but would not know how to set it up anyway. I prefer cash or a card.
Many older people don't have a credit card and always use cash. My sister
doesn't use internet banking. In fact, she doesn't have the internet connected
at her home. She has always preferred to pay for items with cash. She doesn't
have a mobile phone, so could never pay with that. I have another friend who is
the same. She just refuses to use anything other than cash and even refuses to
have an ATM card. She also does not have a credit card or internet. These are
just two of the many who would be financially excluded if there was a cashless
society. Also what about the places who charge surcharges for you to use a
credit card and ask for you to use cash? I use a credit card, but don't use it
at places who charge a surcharge. I will pay cash rather than pay the
surcharge. I also refuse to pay by tapping my phone. I feel this is a breach
of security. I will not do any banking or payments by mobile phone. Yes,
perhaps we are dinosaurs, but having paid our taxes and worked very long hours
over the years, surely older people are deserving of some consideration in these
matters.
I agree with you. I use a debit card for some purchases but if I am having a
coffee or buying a paper or a few items at the supermarket I pay cash. Some
places also charge a surcharge for using a debit card. If cash is made redundant
then what is to stop all places charging a surcharge on all purchases. It is
understandable that cash usage plummeted during the COVID pandemic because most
of us shopped on-line but according to the figures stated there are still 13% of
people who prefer to pay by cash and their preferences should be catered for.
Yes using the time of the pandemic is wrong. Of course people paid on line as
they were not allowed to leave their homes for months in some cases. No one
wanted to touch cash either so other forms of payment were used. I am slowly
going back to cash. I do not purchase on line nor do I use internet banking or
mobile payment. I agree, once they get everyone off cash up will go the fees.
