Cash Distribution Framework Bill 2026, Cash Distribution Framework (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026

Mr GEE (Calare) (18:29): Look, these bills are okay as far as they go, but if the government is trying to ensure that no Australians are left behind in our financial system then these bills fail; they don't go far enough. As I travel around my electorate in the heartland of Australia, I am constantly stopped by people who are very concerned about the phasing out of cash in this country.

Indeed, many of my constituents believe that the big corporations and even small businesses are deliberately trying to phase out cash in this country. In the last parliament, I introduced the Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill. That bill would have mandated 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.

In response to that legislation, the government introduced its own cash mandate. But I tell you what: it's not even cash mandate lite. It's worse than that.

They basically said it only applies to supermarkets and fuel retailers, like petrol stations, when transactions are $500 or less, between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm—and there is an exemption for small businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million per year. So it doesn't apply. When I took that proposal to my constituents, they basically came back and said: 'That's ridiculous.

All you're doing is creating cash islands with these supermarkets and fuel retailers.' We need a proper cash mandate, which my Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill would have delivered. This is a huge issue for people in my area. There are many reasons why people need to use cash.

Many senior Australians simply don't 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. A lot of people are concerned about additional fees. Many Australians now understand that these banks and financial institutions charge you for using card transactions.

It's passed on to consumers, and it is an insidious tax that is added to transactions just for tapping a card. The use of cash is declining. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2022 Consumer Payments Survey, the ongoing decline in cash use in Australia has accelerated since the 2019 pandemic.

It is a huge issue for people who have contacted me expressing their fears that cash is being phased out or will soon disappear. In 2022, the overall value of cash transactions stood at 13 per cent. Many constituents of mine are worried that they're going to be locked out of the financial system and that businesses will simply refuse to accept cash—and I'm with them.

I don't want to see cash use declining. The reality is that the Reserve Bank Act 1959 provides that banknotes are legal tender, and the Currency Act 1965 provides that coins are legal tender, but there is no legal requirement for banknotes or coins to be accepted for transactions in Australia. If you, as a business, don't want to accept cash, all you need to do is put up a sign saying, 'We're not going to accept cash in our business'—that's it.

This is a very worrying development, and constituents in my electorate continue to be very concerned about it. Many Australians prefer cash as a means of managing their budgets. How can we teach our kids the value of cash if they don't know what it is?

Others worry about the privacy risk 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 have been myself. Some people just don't want corporations knowing every single thing they buy.

Some people are happy for corporations to know that, but others are not—and that should be their choice. People should have the freedom to choose whether they use online banking, card transactions or cash. With respect to financial literacy, cash can be extremely useful in teaching valuable lessons about budgeting, making choices and understanding the value of money.

My Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill is all about freedom—the freedom for Australians to choose how they will pay for transactions. Also, think about life in the country and the endless connectivity problems that we seem to have—the black spots that we have and how often the internet and mobile phone services go down. We had a massive outage in the Central West just a couple of weeks ago.

Connectivity can be disrupted for many days—sometimes longer—rendering electronic payments unusable. This is a huge issue for country people. Cash remains a dependable means of exchange that does not rely on electricity or internet access.

If you live in country Australia, you experience these outages all the time. For many people in our area and many older Australians, cash is not just a convenience; it is a lifeline. In these times of economic uncertainty and rising costs, cash is an essential tool for managing finances and actually sticking to a budget.

So I would implore the government to rethink this whole flawed cash mandate that they have brought in. My Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill would bring back that mandate—that businesses, in face-to-face settings, must offer to accept and must accept cash payments for transactions that do not exceed $10,000. There are exceptions.

My bill actually contained exceptions and exemptions, and they included that offering to accept cash would pose a reasonable security risk; that it would be contrary to another law of the Commonwealth or to a law of a state or territory; that it would be contrary to Commonwealth, state or territory health advice, such as advice provided during a pandemic; or that cash in the form of change is needed but is not readily available.

Many seniors have been calling for legislation to keep cash king in Australia and to protect the use of cash. Many people do not trust corporations when they seek to phase out cash, and I'm talking about many corporations. Local councils are now phasing out cash transactions, so you can't pay for your council rates with cash.

I agree, and I'm worried about it. I was very disappointed when the Treasurer introduced this flawed cash mandate, because it did nothing to satisfy the concerns of constituents in our area, the great electorate of Calare, but also of people right around Australia who are following this issue really closely. I don't think the government understands how seriously people are viewing this issue.

I don't think just creating cash islands for transactions under $500 at the major supermarkets is the answer. That's not keeping cash king in Australia; that's just nodding your head to a few concerns so you can pump out a few talking points and move on. But it is doing nothing to allay the legitimate concerns that many people across Australia have about the phasing out of cash.

Most people believe that, if cash is legal tender, it should be accepted, and have worked on the assumption that that is the law. But it is not the law in this country. So I would implore the government to rethink its flawed cash mandate and to have a look at my Keeping Cash Transactions in Australia Bill.

It was introduced to this House in good faith, and I worked with the government in good faith for a long time on it. But I didn't feel that there was meaningful engagement, and I've said this publicly. When the government announced this cash mandate, I think I was told the day before or something like that.

There was no real engagement. I'd been crying out to work with the government on producing something meaningful, so I was very disappointed that this was supposed to be in answer to my bill. It just turned out to be a flawed and rather empty announcement.

I was very disappointed about that, and I think people right around Australia were disappointed in that. We, on the crossbench, the Independents, want to work with the government to get outcomes. Publicly, we were trying to get the government to a point where we could get a meaningful outcome here.

I know Kerry Peck, who hosts the morning show on 2BS in Bathurst, was very keen for the Treasurer to work with me on this. I know he'll be listening to this broadcast and he'll be shaking his head over the fact that this really important bill and cash mandate were ignored by the government. So, tonight, I am moving an amendment to the government's legislation—to the amendment moved by Mr Hogan.

What my amendment does, basically, is call on the government to immediately introduce a cash mandate, providing that businesses operating in face-to-face settings must offer to accept—and must accept!—cash payments for transactions that do not exceed $10,000. That is my amendment. We have to keep cash king in Australia.

We are losing cash before our eyes. The big corporations are phasing it out before our eyes, and the government is assisting them with this weak and ineffective cash mandate it has imposed upon Australia. It's not good enough.

We need to do better. If government MPs and opposition MPs listen to their constituents, they will hear the calls for a genuine cash mandate that actually effectively keeps cash circulating in our economies. I tell you what: if you're a foreign government and you ever wanted to do damage to Australia, just turn off the internet; turn off the mobile phone reception, because without cash the economy of Australia stops.

There is a valid national security reason as well for bringing in a genuine cash mandate, and I don't think the government appreciates it. Whenever our electronic transactions go down, for whatever reason, people panic. There's literally a panic: 'Oh, what am I going to do?

How am I going to buy anything?' But, if you have cash, you can still get through. That's why we need to keep cash king in Australia. So it is with great pleasure, but also with sadness, that I have to move this amendment tonight.

I move: That all words after "House" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "calls on the government to immediately introduce a cash mandate providing that businesses operating in face-to-face settings must offer to accept, and must accept, cash payments for transactions that do not exceed $10,000". And I implore the government, the opposition and all right-thinking MPs to back this amendment in and keep cash king in Australia.

We have to do it, and this is our moment. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Scrymgour ): Is the amendment seconded? Ms Boele: I second the amendment.