Australians withdrew more than $9 billion in cash in January

In January this year, Australia’s cash withdrawals rose to more than $9 billion (US$5.7 billion), according to new statistics released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

This is slightly higher than Covid-19, when cash withdrawals fell to $6.3 billion in April 2020, a slight increase from $8.92 billion in January 2024.

Cash withdrawals have been steadily declining in the decade prior to Covid-19, ranging from about $13 billion per month in 2010 to less than $11 billion per month in 2019.

Cash Welcome, an advocacy group dedicated to maintaining cash in Australia, stressed that banks continue to push for branch closures while levels of cash use in Australia remain stable.

“Cash usage in Australia has not diminished since the end of the Covid pandemic,” spokesman Jason Blythe said.

He accused Banks of pushing Australia towards a cashless future against the will of people.

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“The banks and the RBA need to acknowledge that there is plenty of demand for cash in Australia and there is no reason to believe that cash is gone,” he said.

“Banks want cashless Australia, not business or consumers.

The governor says he’s saying that cash will only be around another 10 years.

“In some other countries, especially Scandinavian countries, cash usage has been reduced much more dramatically than we do, and they have even more problems than we do.

“What turns it around? I don’t think anything will turn it around. I think it’s a long-term decline.”

Bullock said the bank is currently trying to make sure cash is available.

“It’s available at retailers, people can use it, and people can access it. That’s the short-term issue for the time being,” she said.

“But we have to think that cash will probably be around for another decade. We have to find a way to move to a new system.

Bullock said he stressed that finding ways to fund cash distributions remains a challenge and that it is difficult to decide who will cover the costs.

“There are a lot of options that can take you there right now. But the bottom line is that cash distribution is something someone has to pay if they don’t want the consumer to pay, and it’s going to be hard to understand how that’s subsidized because that’s what we’re asking for,” she said.

She usually adds in situations like this, but if the costs are rising, people have to pay more to use it.

But she said the idea that people pay to spend cash “doesn’t work.”

There was a 3% decline in areas where residents are difficult to travel to the bank and in remote areas.

Turning back even further, the numbers outline a significant decline in branch availability over the past few years.

“Between June 2017 and June 2024, the number of branches across the country fell by 41%, including a 36% decline in regional and remote areas,” APRA said.

Government and Opposition Views on Cash

In late 2024, the Albanese government mandated that businesses would be obligated to accept cash to sell essential items.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Vice Treasurer Stephen Jones said there is a “continuous place” in the society for cash while Australians increasingly use digital payment methods.

“Around 1.5 million Australians use cash to earn over 80% of their individual payments, with up to 94% of businesses continuing to accept cash. Cash also provides easy access to digital payments in the event of natural disasters and digital outages.”

He recommended that Australia post work to standardize limits on deposits and withdrawals from branches. He also suggested that they consider maintaining ATMs that are on track and regularly maintained and quickly supplying cash to residents.

“One point that’s loud and clear is the need for banks to truly work with local and remote communities to be serious about getting involved with them before they decide to close the branch,” Wilson said.

The Senate’s investigation into bank closures had 580 submissions.