Hi Cash Lovers,

The cash mandate consultation has been extended one week.

Submissions now close Friday 7th November.

CashAcceptanceConsultation@treasury.gov.au

Director
Retail Banking and Currency Unit
Banking and Credit Branch
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600

There are millions of Australians who rely on cash daily.

But the proposed cash mandate only applies to large supermarkets and large petrol stations. 99% of businesses, billers, utilities and agencies will be excluded from the cash mandate.

In particular, pharmacies, big business, government agencies and utilities get a free pass to go cashless under the proposed cash 'mandate' regulations.

Australians face not being able to pay for essentials including medicine, power and water, clothing and footwear, phone bills, household goods, fees, fines and more with cash.

Write your own experience and why you need cash acceptance to be mandated.

(feel free to use any of this info or cut and paste from this for your own submission):

Submission to Mandating Cash Acceptance Consultation, The Treasury
 
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Exposure draft - Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes-Cash Acceptance) Regulations 2025.

The proposed cash mandate only applies to supermarkets and fuel retailers

The cash mandate needs to apply to all physical retailers. Banknotes and coins are generally understood by all Australians to be our legal tender.

Pharmacies and medical clinics need to be included

Pharmacies and medical clinics, in particular, should be subject to the cash acceptance mandate.

Many vulnerable Australians budget with cash and regularly need medicines. There is no reasonable excuse to reject a cash payment from a customer buying their medicine.

Previously the treasurer said the cash mandate would apply to essentials. Food, medicine and fuel were specifically mentioned.

 
‘Commission may grant exemptions’

The draft regulations say the commission may grant exemptions to retailers who do not want to accept cash but the grounds for granting an exemption are too vague.

The grounds on which a supermarket or fuel retailer can be exempted from accepting cash needs to be narrowed to ‘exceptional circumstances’ only.

The inclusion of any other circumstances in these sections will incentivise banks to continue to make cash acceptance difficult and expensive for retailers.

Large retailers

Retailers like Kmart, Bunnings, Tyrepower, Harvey Norman are difficult to avoid for consumers who need clothes, household items, common hardware and essential car parts.

Large businesses are best placed to pay for the costs involved in cash acceptance and cash distribution.

Utilities

The consequences for not paying a utility bill is extreme hardship – ie: no power, no telephone etc. Therefore there are no reasonable grounds for a utility provider to reject a cash payment.

Utility bills like electricity, gas, telephone, internet and water need to be included in the cash acceptance mandate. These are essential expenses.

Financial Institutions

Financial institutions like banks, insurers and lenders should be required to deal with our legal tender – physical cash.

Insurance premiums, loan repayments, credit contracts should be payable with physical cash.

Financial institutions need to accept the costs of dealing with money as a normal cost of doing business.

Supermarkets and fuel retailers

The draft regulations allow supermarkets and fuel retailers to have just one cash accepting terminal. This is not enough because supermarkets will make cash acceptance difficult and time consuming for cash users.

Not less than fifty per cent of point-of-sale terminals should accept cash payments to ensure ‘reasonable’ compliance with the cash acceptance mandate.

Any number less than half means that cash users face discrimination and delays in making a payment.

All physical retailers should be included in the cash mandate.

The cash system needs notes and coins to be generally and widely circulating in the community to be viable and sustainable.

Read more about the proposed mandate here.

Thank you and yours sincerely, 

Jason Bryce
jason@cashwelcome.org
 

PS: Please donate some spare change to help me fight the cashless society:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-cashwelcomeorg-fighting-the-war-on-cash

Or make a small deposit to my Commonwealth Bank account:

Cash Welcome
BSB 062-692
AC 4954 6502