In The Grips Of A Cash Famine, By Design…

The 14th February is the closing date for submissions to the Treasury relating to the ongoing access to cash in Australia. I made a show on this called “Are We In The Midst Of A Cash Long Con?” and argued there that the Government many well be playing a long con with the community ahead of the upcoming election.

Remember that the Treasury paper setting up the request for submissions says Cash acceptance refers to the practice of businesses accepting cash as a form of payment for goods and services. Cash acceptance levels must remain sufficient to enable consumers, including those unable to use digital payment methods, to participate in the economy. The Albanese government has said it would mandate that businesses must accept cash when selling essential items like groceries and fuel from 2026.

And we have run extra questions through our SME survey which showed that over the past 3 years, the proportion of SME’s prepared to take cash payments has dropped to less than 60%. Despite this more than 75% would welcome a cash mandate, but again only with the caveat that first cash is readily available, and at low or no cost. There was also a higher level of support for cash in Regional and Rural areas compared with the large cities.

But this cash supply issue is complex, as reported by the AFR, and there is a critical upcoming date of July when the temporary arrangements with Armaguard, who moves cash around the country are up for review.

Actually this is one of the most compelling reasons to create a Government Bank, perhaps for full banking via the Australia Post network.

But of course this is beyond the election horizon of May, so Labour can say they are doing things, in response to the public pressure as encapsulated in the Regional Banking Inquiry. Access to physical cash is a human right which needs protecting, but of course the banks hate it. How the life blood of banking cash, became an expensive overhead is the shame here. But the Government con is a big part of the story.

Remember to make your submission by Valentines day.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
In The Grips Of A Cash Famine, By Design…
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In The Grips Of A Cash Famine, By Design…

The 14th February is the closing date for submissions to the Treasury relating to the ongoing access to cash in Australia. I made a show on this called “Are We In The Midst Of A Cash Long Con?” and argued there that the Government many well be playing a long con with the community ahead of the upcoming election.

Remember that the Treasury paper setting up the request for submissions says Cash acceptance refers to the practice of businesses accepting cash as a form of payment for goods and services. Cash acceptance levels must remain sufficient to enable consumers, including those unable to use digital payment methods, to participate in the economy. The Albanese government has said it would mandate that businesses must accept cash when selling essential items like groceries and fuel from 2026.

And we have run extra questions through our SME survey which showed that over the past 3 years, the proportion of SME’s prepared to take cash payments has dropped to less than 60%. Despite this more than 75% would welcome a cash mandate, but again only with the caveat that first cash is readily available, and at low or no cost. There was also a higher level of support for cash in Regional and Rural areas compared with the large cities.

But this cash supply issue is complex, as reported by the AFR, and there is a critical upcoming date of July when the temporary arrangements with Armaguard, who moves cash around the country are up for review.

Actually this is one of the most compelling reasons to create a Government Bank, perhaps for full banking via the Australia Post network.

But of course this is beyond the election horizon of May, so Labour can say they are doing things, in response to the public pressure as encapsulated in the Regional Banking Inquiry. Access to physical cash is a human right which needs protecting, but of course the banks hate it. How the life blood of banking cash, became an expensive overhead is the shame here. But the Government con is a big part of the story.

Remember to make your submission by Valentines day.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Are We In The Midst Of A Cash Long Con?

Last Tuesday on my live show, I discussed the current Treasury paper on Mandating Cash Acceptance in Australia. But today I want to take this further and I will outline my concern that the Government many well be playing a long con with the community ahead of the upcoming election.

The paper says Cash acceptance refers to the practice of businesses accepting cash as a form of payment for goods and services. Cash acceptance levels must remain sufficient to enable consumers, including those unable to use digital payment methods, to participate in the economy.

my suspicion, is this is more political than anything else. The Government knows cash availability is a BIG issue, and cannot be avoided, so this Treasury paper allows the issue to flow on beyond the next election. Meantime the neo-liberals, in the pockets on the big banks, still want to take our rights to use cash away, so on one hand they can appear to be taking the right for cash seriously, but can also continue to assume the banks they support them. It’s a classic yes Minister long con.

We can break that by making sure we provide responses to Treasury, along the lines, of first, there should be no carve out of essential services – which is difficult to try to define, and all businesses should still be required to accept legal tender in the form of cash. A simple antidote to the long con.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

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Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Are We In The Midst Of A Cash Long Con?
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Is Cash To Reign Supreme in 2025?

In the second part of our Twix-Mass series, we look at the use and future of cash. To the surprise of many, banks included, the use of cash is on the rise, and now the Government is looking to secure its use and availability across the country. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones told ABC News “We wanted to ensure all Australians — one-and-a-half-million Australians who prefer to use cash — are able to do that.

Cash Welcome founder Jason Bryce says people want access to physical currency and he’s calling on banks to respond to consumer demand. He points out that cash withdrawals have remained steady, despite banks dismantling half of their cash distribution network. While there are fewer bank branches and ATMs, there’s still almost $9 billion in cash withdrawn from ATMs every single month.

So don’t be fooled by the Banking Sector and Lobbyists, who claim we ae going cashless, the truth is very different, and unlike cheques, cash is here to stay – so use it or lose it. And incidentally, use of cash has already been mandated in New York and many Scandinavian countries – the latter some of the first to champion digital payments; and elsewhere too. And why the reversal? Simple, cash is cheaper, more secure, private and resilient especially in a time of digital disruption.

And a final thought, teaching kids the true value of money is much easier with real cash. I had a chat with parents last week who realised their kids had no feel for the value of things as they watched tap and go in play without consequences. Giving them real cash teaches them the finite value of money, a life lesson well learnt – and one which many older Australians would do well to learn.

DFA Live Q&A Replay: Time For A Financial Revolution: With Robbie Barwick

This is an edited version of a live discussion with Robbie Barwick from the Australian Citizens Party, as we explore the current status of the war on cash, regional banking, post offices, and the need to revolutionize the financial system for ordinary people.

https://citizensparty.org.au

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
DFA Live Q&A Replay: Time For A Financial Revolution: With Robbie Barwick
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Cash Transaction Usage On The Rise (Despite The Banks’ Best Worse Efforts)!

A new report from the Finance Industry Peak Body, UK Finance, which represents more than 300 firms in the UK, reveals that cash remained the second most popular payment method, after debit cards – with an estimated three million people still relying on it. Their research suggests 1.5 million mainly used cash in 2023, up from 900,000 the previous year.

This was it appears an unexpected jump in the number of people who mainly use notes and coins for their daily spending, despite all the propaganda that the UK moving closer to becoming a cashless society. A UK Finance spokesperson said it would monitor the situation regarding people who mainly used cash to see if this was the start of a trend or merely a “statistical blip”. We think it’s more than that.

As I highlighted in a recent post the chaos caused by the global IT outage last week underlines the risk of moving towards a cashless society. Even if the data forecasts that cash will represent only 6% of payments in a decade’s time, it’s critical if other systems go down, as we saw with the outage last week” UK Finance said. This is as close to the Swedish message of make sue you keep cash on hand in case of emergencies as it gets, without saying it!

In Australia, as I reported recently there was also a rise in cash usage, despite the banks best worst efforts, and the recommendation from the recent Senate Inquiry into Regional Branch closures also recommend making access to cash an essential service.

Its simple really people, keep using cash, and we retain a backup in case of emergency. We also know people using cash regularly has a better handle on their finances, teaches kids the real value of money, and acts as an antidote to tap tap credit based society, where banks make a dollar from every transaction, which costs us all. While the war on cash is far from over, use it, or lose it. Its that simple!

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Cash Transaction Usage On The Rise (Despite The Banks’ Best Worse Efforts)!
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Cash Transaction Usage On The Rise (Despite The Banks’ Best Worse Efforts)!

A new report from the Finance Industry Peak Body, UK Finance, which represents more than 300 firms in the UK, reveals that cash remained the second most popular payment method, after debit cards – with an estimated three million people still relying on it. Their research suggests 1.5 million mainly used cash in 2023, up from 900,000 the previous year.

This was it appears an unexpected jump in the number of people who mainly use notes and coins for their daily spending, despite all the propaganda that the UK moving closer to becoming a cashless society. A UK Finance spokesperson said it would monitor the situation regarding people who mainly used cash to see if this was the start of a trend or merely a “statistical blip”. We think it’s more than that.

As I highlighted in a recent post the chaos caused by the global IT outage last week underlines the risk of moving towards a cashless society. Even if the data forecasts that cash will represent only 6% of payments in a decade’s time, it’s critical if other systems go down, as we saw with the outage last week” UK Finance said. This is as close to the Swedish message of make sue you keep cash on hand in case of emergencies as it gets, without saying it!

In Australia, as I reported recently there was also a rise in cash usage, despite the banks best worst efforts, and the recommendation from the recent Senate Inquiry into Regional Branch closures also recommend making access to cash an essential service.

Its simple really people, keep using cash, and we retain a backup in case of emergency. We also know people using cash regularly has a better handle on their finances, teaches kids the real value of money, and acts as an antidote to tap tap credit based society, where banks make a dollar from every transaction, which costs us all. While the war on cash is far from over, use it, or lose it. Its that simple!

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Cash: Wake Up, Its The Antidote To Digital Dystopia!

Well, last week we got a glimpse of the vulnerability of global IT systems, including payment systems, the latest and perhaps most significant of a chapter of accidents, ranging from banks systems going down, through to disruption from floods and fire, when only physical payments in cash were accepted. US cyber-security firm CrowdStrike said it was responsible for the mayhem, which started on Friday after sending a ‘defective’ update to machines running Microsoft apps. Microsoft has suggested customers try rebooting their computers 15 times to resolve the issue.

The IT outage prompted federal politician Bob Katter to demand cash remains in circulation amid the “danger” of relying on digital technology. “This a wake-up call that the risk associated with a cashless society is too high for us to pay,” Mr Katter said.

According to a recent online survey, titled Cashless Future 2024’ while fewer payments may be made in cash these days, Australians are still expressing serious concerns about heading towards a cashless society. Seven in 10 say they’ve concerned, while two in five Aussies are extremely concerned about notes and coins becoming relics.

Significantly, even people who don’t use cash can be concerned about moving towards a cashless society for reasons including privacy concerns, security risks and dependency on technology. This includes concerns about their transaction data being tracked and analysed by corporations or government agencies, and digital payment systems can sometimes be vulnerable to technology outage, hacking or fraud. A recent report said: “Concerns about technological glitches, network outages, or power failures could lead to worries about being unable to make payments in the absence of cash.”

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Cash: Wake Up, Its The Antidote To Digital Dystopia!
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Cash: Wake Up, Its The Antidote To Digital Dystopia!

Well, last week we got a glimpse of the vulnerability of global IT systems, including payment systems, the latest and perhaps most significant of a chapter of accidents, ranging from banks systems going down, through to disruption from floods and fire, when only physical payments in cash were accepted. US cyber-security firm CrowdStrike said it was responsible for the mayhem, which started on Friday after sending a ‘defective’ update to machines running Microsoft apps. Microsoft has suggested customers try rebooting their computers 15 times to resolve the issue.

The IT outage prompted federal politician Bob Katter to demand cash remains in circulation amid the “danger” of relying on digital technology. “This a wake-up call that the risk associated with a cashless society is too high for us to pay,” Mr Katter said.

According to a recent online survey, titled Cashless Future 2024’ while fewer payments may be made in cash these days, Australians are still expressing serious concerns about heading towards a cashless society. Seven in 10 say they’ve concerned, while two in five Aussies are extremely concerned about notes and coins becoming relics.

Significantly, even people who don’t use cash can be concerned about moving towards a cashless society for reasons including privacy concerns, security risks and dependency on technology. This includes concerns about their transaction data being tracked and analysed by corporations or government agencies, and digital payment systems can sometimes be vulnerable to technology outage, hacking or fraud. A recent report said: “Concerns about technological glitches, network outages, or power failures could lead to worries about being unable to make payments in the absence of cash.”

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Don’t Believe The Bankers: More People Are Using Cash!

Contrary to the bankers claiming digital payments are replacing cash, yet more evidence is showing that use of cash is on the RISE! We look at data from New Zealand based on a recent survey as the Reserve Bank there announces pilots to make access to cash easier.

The trend of rising cash use was in fact confirmed recently by the RBA too, though their surveys are just not up to the New Zealand standard, and of course using cash more is also rising in the UK.

Not only is the ongoing use of cash a human right, a protection of freedom, and cheaper than other payment means, but it is also proving to assist households with their budgetting. Do not believe the bankers’ BS…

RBNZ Short: Why Access To Cash Is Essential For Social Cohesion Short: https://youtube.com/shorts/d32BqMmfwUc

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Don’t Believe The Bankers: More People Are Using Cash!
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