Share your support for cash mandate
NSA is preparing a submission to the government. You can have your say now.
The deadline is approaching for public feedback on the Federal Government’s proposal to mandate that businesses accept cash as a form of payment for essential goods and services.
The government released a consultation paper in late December, with a deadline of 14 February for feedback. The plan is for legislation to be in place for the mandate to be introduced in January 2026.
National Seniors Australia (NSA) has been at the forefront of moves to ensure cash remains a valid form of payment through our Keep Cash campaign, and the paper aligns with many of the positions we have been putting forward over the past 18 months.
In the foreword to the paper, the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and Finance Minister, Stephen Jones, write, “We know people are increasingly using digital payments, but there is an ongoing place for cash in our society.
“About 1.5 million Australians use cash to make more than 80% of their in‑person payments and cash also provides an easily accessible back‑up to digital payments in times of natural disaster or digital outage.
“According to the most recent data, up to 94% of businesses continue to accept cash, and we want to see cash acceptance continue. Mandating cash for essential purchases, such as groceries and fuel, means those who rely on cash will not be left behind.”
The paper notes that cash continues to play an important role in:
- Maintaining social inclusion by helping ensure that community members without the ability to use digital payment methods can still participate in the economy
- Providing reliability during outages of digital payment systems
- Offering an immediate exchange of value that maintains privacy, may assist with safety, and may increase confidence among users
- Allowing individuals to more easily manage their finances by giving a clear and physical representation of spending.
Though, as the paper notes, there is currently no regulation that requires businesses must accept cash as a means of payment.
In alignment with NSA’s views, the paper notes concerns about the impacts of a cashless society on people in regional and remote areas, older Australians, low-income households, and those concerned about risk of fraud and theft.
It also recognises there are many overseas examples of cash mandates.
However, there are potential issues for concern in the proposal.
- That the mandate applies to large corporations but exempts small businesses, with the definition of a small business being one that has an aggregate turnover of under $10 million. Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, 98.2% of businesses would be exempt under this definition.
- The mandate could be limited to transactions below a certain dollar limit and within certain times (6am-10pm, for instance).
- It would not apply to private sales, or, for example, purchases at local school fetes, or to many government transactions, such as paying for passports and vehicle registration.
- The definition of “essential goods and services” is quite narrow, limited to those “required to meet absolute basic needs” and without substitutes. Examples of essential items include most bread and cereal products, all meat and seafood, all fruit and vegetables, garments and footwear for children, and fuel. However, “non-essential” items include cakes and biscuits, soft drinks and juices, takeaway foods, garments and footwear for women and men, furniture and furnishings, motor vehicles, and transport services.
- Enforcement could be a mix of government regulation and through private legal action, with the latter potentially putting an undue onus on individuals.
The paper does not explain exactly how it would work in practice. For instance, would all points of sale at a supermarket have to accept cash? If selling a mix of goods, does a store have to accept cash on all of them or only the essential items? How will consumers know if a business is exempted as a small business??
National Seniors will be making a submission on the consultation paper before the 14 February deadline, and we welcome input from our members.
Let us know what having access to payment by cash means to you. You can email us here and read more about, and join, the Keep Cash campaign here.
Related reading: Media release, Consultation paper
