The federal government is phasing out cheques by the end of the decade, but some banks are making the move ahead of that with one stopping processing cheques this week.
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00:00 Whilst that number might be 1%, 80% of those are actually folk that are over 65 that are
00:08 using cheques. So that's the important part is that it really this change is targeting
00:13 in particular older Australians.
00:16 So what will you say to the people that you meet there in Canberra very shortly?
00:21 Yeah, so from our perspective, we're looking for both policy makers, the banks and corporate
00:29 Australia as well, because it's not just down to the banks on this. It's up to consumers
00:35 as well to actually start to use cheques as long as they can. They need to protest. And
00:42 this is part of a broader issue that's at play at the moment in relation to cash. And
00:48 we're seeing this phasing out of cash. It's not just cheques, it's cash as well. And that's
00:54 the concerning thing in particular for older Australians and also the vulnerable within
00:58 our community.
00:59 So what sort of problems and Chris will older Australians face if they aren't able to use
01:03 cheques or to use cash?
01:05 Yeah, we're finding in particular around cheques that it's for the what we would call major
01:11 purchases. Older Australians like to use cheques for whether it's they're making a car purchase,
01:17 or even if they're making a significant donation to a charity. That's the way in which they
01:22 like to do that. And as far as cash is concerned, we're seeing a real pressure across the community
01:29 to sort of at just a transaction level to you can't get money from ATMs because they're
01:35 shutting them down or where they are, they're charging it for the benefit. Also, they're
01:40 closing banks across the country. So once again, difficult to get cash. And I guess
01:46 there's this real shift to digital ways of banking. And from our perspective, it's just
01:54 a little bit too quick.
01:56 So are older people then nervous about online banking, Chris, because they don't feel able
02:01 to do it? Or are they afraid of it because of scammers and other sorts of abuse?
02:05 Yeah, Ros, there's a few issues here. In particular, there's one, the affordability of the devices
02:12 to enable those transactions to happen online. Not every older Australian can afford a smartphone
02:20 and to manage a have the right plan in place in terms of affordability. And so that's a
02:26 big issue. The other one is around just generally cyber safety. These days, the number of scams
02:33 in terms of links to press on things, that is a real concern. And we're seeing older
02:38 Australians in particular, really, there's harm to a number of them that is occurring.
02:44 So they're very anxious around when they're getting letters from banks saying you can't
02:48 write cheques anymore. And then when they physically go out into their community and
02:53 try to get cash out, and the ATM's closed, the branch is closed. It's just adding to
02:59 this stress and anxiety that older Australians are facing at this time, when they're already
03:04 worried about the cost of purchases. It's getting harder to live.
03:09 So how do you want banks to support older customers?
03:12 Well, I think it's important in particular for the older folk within our community to
03:18 have physical support. There's no substitute for a bank branch. And we feel that there
03:25 should be branches ongoing. I know that the banks are sort of steering customers to Australia
03:33 Post, but Australia Post are under pressure in terms of being able to manage banking on
03:38 behalf of Australians. And even if you're going into Australia Post to do banking transactions,
03:44 they're charging fees for that service, because you've got a lot of Australia Post franchisees
03:48 are just mums and dads as well. They've got to make a living and they're not making the
03:53 billion dollar profits that the banks are. So the banks have sort of shifted the responsibility
03:58 to Aus Post. And I think that maybe the banks need to take back some of that responsibility
04:02 themselves under their general community charter.
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