Cash is king. It seems like every other week there’s yet another story of a grid collapsing like it did in Spain or of a telco outage like what happened with Optus
recently or of payment gateways and banks having outages or with Amazon Web Services going down worldwide causing absolute chaos. But despite these very obvious reasons to keep cash alive, there is a very real push to get rid of cash and go purely digital. Why? Well, because it benefits big business and definitely benefits government, but it would be absolutely disastrous for the little people like you and I for a host of reasons.
And in that context, the government has introduced a new draft regulation titled mandating cash acceptance.
And it’s caused quite a stir and quite a lot of misinformation and indeed fear-mongering. So, in this video, I’m going to cut through the crap and make sense out of the nonsense so that you can understand exactly what is and is not happening with cash in Australia and with this new draft regulation.
My name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project and I help busy people like you to cut through the crap, to make sense of the nonsense, and to better understand the world as it changes around us. I am 100% viewer supported. So, if you appreciate someone keeping you up to date about issues that affect Australians and doing it without the hype, without the clickbait, without the fear-mongering, just no-nonsense truth and perspective by an Aussie for Aussies, then please support my work by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you will love my books. And you’ll find both my bestselling books about civil civil disobedience along with my multi-award-winning DVD and my t-shirts and hoodies, all available at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. And everything you buy will help me to keep the Topher project going so I can keep helping busy people like you to make sense out of the nonsense.
The first thing you need to know about these new draft regulations is that right now there is no business in Australia that is required by law to accept cash. None. The only requirement is that if they’re not going to accept cash, they have to communicate that in advance. So, they need to put a sign out the front or up at the counter or something like that. And as long as they communicate their no cash policy in advance, then any business in Australia right now can legally refuse to accept cash. Now, I’m not saying that’s how it should be. I’m just saying that’s how it is.
Now, you might wonder why. Why would a business refuse to accept cash? It must be part of some conspiracy. Well, actually, there are some good reasons why some businesses might make that choice. Because cash creates some costs and some risks for businesses which some of them decide that they would rather do without. If staff, for example, are handling cash all the time, you have a risk of theft from the staff or just making mistakes and miscounting. If there’s cash inside the building, you have a risk of robbery. And if someone has to take that cash out of the building to the bank, well, now you have their personal security to think about.
Now, to be clear, I am pro-cash and we absolutely must keep cash alive. But let’s have an honest conversation about it. Using cash isn’t actually free, at least not from a business’s perspective. The fact is that there are some businesses who look at the numbers and say, “Well, hey, 95% of our transactions are already digital.” And that 5% of cash transactions, well, that’s forcing us to do all this stuff to ensure that our staff aren’t stealing cash, our premises are secure, and our managers have protection when they take the cash to the bank. How about we just stop accepting cash altogether and be done with it? And again, I don’t think that’s the right direction, but it’s a decision that some businesses have made. And right now, they can legally make that choice no matter how big or small they are. So, that’s the current state of play.
What do these draft regulations do? Well, the name says they’re mandating cash acceptance.
And contrary to some of the fear-mongering you may have heard online, that is exactly what these regulations actually do. These new regulations require anyone that sells groceries or fuel with an annual turnover in excess of $10 million to accept cash for transactions less than $500. Now, of course, anyone can accept cash in addition to that, but they’re simply requiring that larger businesses selling essential products, well, they have to accept cash under these regulations.
But they do allow smaller businesses and businesses that don’t sell groceries or fuel to refuse to accept cash in exactly the same way that they already can. But for reasons that I’m not quite clear on, these exceptions that do mean that a lot of businesses aren’t being forced to accept cash under these regulations. Well, these exceptions are being picked up in the alt media and they’re being used as some sort of a proof that there really is a war on cash, as if these exceptions are proof of some overarching agenda. And I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it that way.
Right now, no business is required to accept cash. After these regulation changes, some businesses will be required to accept cash. I don’t understand how that’s been turned into some supposed proof of the war on cash. Now, to be clear, there is a war on cash, but this is not it. I’ve been covering this issue for years now. And two years ago, I interviewed the economist, Professor Gigi Foster, who told me about a conversation she had personally with senior staff from the Reserve Bank of Australia. They told her straight up that their mandate is to facilitate cash for as long as the numbers say that people are using cash.
I’ll put the link to that interview in the description so you can watch it for yourself if you’d like. It’s from 2 years ago, but it remains very relevant today. The simple fact is that the more we use cash, the more the Reserve Bank of Australia is obligated by its charter to ensure that it stays in circulation. If we allow cash to fall into disuse, well, then the Reserve Bank will follow their charter again and they’ll follow our lead and cash will become harder and harder to get. Again, I’m not saying that there isn’t a war on cash or that there’s no one trying to get rid of cash. I said at the outset that both government and big business have vested interests in getting rid of cash, each for their own different reasons. But this amendment to the regulations, this is not it. And I’m tired of seeing the fear-mongering.
Now, I am a libertarian and I don’t believe that we should be mandating anything, not even the things that I like, like cash.
If we want to keep cash alive, it’s up to us to use it and to make it commercial suicide for any business to choose not to accept cash. We have to be willing to walk away from any business that refuses to accept cash so that they change their policies. I don’t agree with the government forcing businesses to do anything even if I agree with the thing cash in this case. But for people in the alt media to be using this regulation change as clickbait, fear porn for their own clicks and views and profit, well, that’s dishonest and lazy in my opinion. This proposed regulation change does what it says in the title. It mandates cash acceptance for many businesses when currently there are no cash mandates for any businesses.
Now, you might believe that government regulation in this area is a good thing. And you might even argue that these regulations and mandates don’t go far enough, and you’re entitled to those opinions. And if that’s you, then you only have until the 31st of October to provide feedback to the government and state your case as to what you would like them to do instead of what they’re proposing. But please don’t go in there writing and talking to them about how this regulation is bad for cash or how it’s part of a war on cash. It isn’t. This is a case where the saying, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” applies. This is a good regulation change if you’re someone who wants the government to mandate cash. So, don’t try and tear it down because it didn’t go as far as you think it should.
This is a rare example of a regulation change that actually does what it says on the tin. It does mandate that some businesses have to accept cash. But honestly, if we want to keep cash alive, and we should, the best way to do it is to keep cash alive, to use the stuff more and more often. And there are some good reasons why we should do that. Research has shown that payment system outages are costing Australia a lot more than most of us realize. $5.3 billion a year. And that puts a whole new spin on the issue of the costs of a business handling cash. Yes, handling cash does impose costs and security issues onto businesses. That’s absolutely true. But the numbers also say that not accepting cash makes you completely vulnerable to enormous costs every time the internet burps.
And people are beginning to realize just how vulnerable we really are. According to this article from Yahoo, some people have been in the middle of paying for petrol or their groceries when these outages hit, and it can leave them faced with either waiting until the problem is fixed or walking away empty-handed. As a result, 61% revealed they had started carrying cash more often as a backup in case they couldn’t use their card or access their accounts. Research found this worry of being left stranded financially is now carried by 77% of Australians.
I agree and I am someone who carries a little bit of cash at all times for exactly this reason.
Although I will usually only spend it with smaller companies. There’s no point giving cash to a supermarket. They’ll just take it to the bank and deposit it. But spending it with a smaller business, well, that’s more likely to result in those banknotes being used and reused and circulated, which is what’s good for us all. So, the bottom line from my perspective is this. These cash mandates aren’t something to be afraid of. They will actually mean that some businesses now have to accept cash when that isn’t the case right now. But ultimately, these regulations don’t actually change anything because the future of cash is still in exactly the same place that it’s always been. Our hands.
Sadly, I can’t accept cash online. I wish there were a way to do that. That would be hilarious. But there isn’t. But I do accept donations via the buy me a coffee button at topherfield.net. And if you appreciate my no-nonsense, no hype, no fear-mongering, just the straight up facts approach, then I’d appreciate you helping me to keep the Topher project going by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you will love my books. There’s good people break bad laws, which is all about civil disobedience in the modern age, and good Christians break bad laws, which is all about the theology of civil disobedience. Plus, you’ll find my multi-award-winning DVD, plus my t-shirts and hoodies in a range of different designs. All of that is available at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. And everything you buy will help me to keep bringing you stories like this one where I cut through the crap and make sense of the nonsense that surrounds us.
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