The federal government has released the final version of its proposal to require certain businesses to accept cash payments. While the original proposal from December 2024 included a broad range of products and services, the government’s new policy would, if enacted, only apply to supermarkets and petrol stations. There are millions of Australians who rely on cash. Some of them rely on it every day, others only when something goes wrong. But the government’s new proposal has been heavily watered down, meaning Australians won’t be guaranteed the legal right to pay cash for medicine, medical supplies, utilities, mobile phones, public transport, clothing, shoes, school expenses or childcare. We consider all these things to beessential – apparently the government does not.
In regional and remote First Nations communities, where internet and…
