Cupid has fired his arrow to Canberra as National Seniors Australia (NSA) celebrates this year's International Day of Love with a public valentine to the Federal Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers.
A crowd of NSA KEEP CASH supporters gathered around a 12.6m x 3.3m billboard in the heart of Brisbane's CBD to highlight NSA's submission to the government's keep cash mandate consultation, due February 14th.
It reads:
"Roses are red, violets are blue, Dear Treasurer, KEEP CASH, banks & ATMs too!"
NSA chief executive officer Chris Grice said the KEEP CASH Valentine poem is a declaration of support for the Federal Government's move to ensure cash remains accepted detailed in its mandating cash acceptance consultation paper.
"Behind this light-hearted message is a serious message about the need to keep cash, banks and ATMs for older Australians and others who rely on and use cash and traditional banking services," Mr Grice said.
"Seniors, like most people, value the convenience of card payments; but as a key part of the payments and financial system, cash must be accepted and accessible.
"As a peak consumer advocacy leading the KEEP CASH campaign, NSA, together with our 255,000 community members, welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the government's mandating cash acceptance consultation.
"As detailed in our submission, we need to keep cash for a range of reasons including reliability during outages including natural disasters; privacy, security, and trust; and budgeting.
"Cash is easier for people living with a disability such as vision impairment or cognitive decline to use; it allows for small payments to children, grandchildren as well as charities; and it negates bank charges and card charges.
"While we congratulate the government for taking this step to ensure cash remains accepted, we are disappointed the mandate comes with limitations.
"Exactly what items are deemed 'essential' goods and services appear to be restricted. Details such as how the mandate will operate in practice, how it will be enforced, communicated, supports for small businesses, and impacts in regional areas also need to be determined. "
As cash use declines, so does the number of access points available to withdraw and deposit. Since 2017 (until June 2024), ATMs have declined by 8,326 (from 32,095 to 23,769). For this same period, bank branches have declined by 2,334 (from 5,694 to 3,360).
"We need to KEEP CASH, banks and ATMs and hope, with all our heart, the Federal Treasurer receives our Valentine, considers our submission and the varied needs of cash users around the country.
"We're not after dinner or flowers, but simply for people to be able to access and use cash just as they always have."
