Optus outage proves Australia needs a cash guarantee

Thursday 9th November 2023:

Millions of Australian consumers and businesses were left without the ability to make or accept payments on Wednesday 8th November.

Today Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland announced a government inquiry into yesterday's Optus outage.

The senate and the Victorian government have also announced inquiries.

"Power, internet and EFTPOS systems can all fail and leave us stranded," said Jason Bryce, co-ordinator of the Cash Welcome campaign.

"Only cash is reliable 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

"They can't build a reliable cashless payments system that is always online so banks need to stop closing branches and ATMs.

"When cash is not available or widely accepted, Australia is vulnerable to outages," said Jason Bryce.

"Thousands of businesses lost sales yesterday and Optus, rightly, faces possible compensation claims but the bigger issue remains - cash needs to be available to protect us from outages.

"Banks enjoy a special place at the heart of our economy. No Australian can get paid without a bank account so banks have an obligation to provide us with local cash access.

"Other nations (like the UK, European Union and states in the USA) protect their citizens' right to choose cash and now the Australian government must catch-up and also mandate cash acceptance, or require banks to provide us with access to our own cash.

"I have a petition with 130,000 signatures (and growing daily) calling for a legal right to choose cash and access cash.

https://www.change.org/BankingAndCashGuarantee

Last month APRA confirmed Australia lost another 424 bank branches in the last 12 months and 718 bank-owned ATMs.

CashWelcome.ORG is a campaign supported by donations from the public and industry. We work in co-operation with the ATM Industry Association.

More comments and information:

Jason Bryce, Cash Welcome 0428 777 727 Jason@CashWelcome.ORG

Sandra Smith, ATM Industry Association Sandra.Smith@ATMIA.com    0424 300 660