{"id":945633,"date":"2026-10-29T22:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T22:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945633\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T22:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T22:06:12","slug":"melbourne-man-jason-is-pushing-for-stronger-cash-laws-after-his-local-atms-disappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945633\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne man Jason is pushing for stronger cash laws after his local ATMs disappeared"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Jason Bryce\u2019s crusade against the cashless<\/a> movement began when his local bank branches started to disappear.<\/p>\n

The Melbourne<\/a> man was living in Yarraville in the city\u2019s inner-west in 2019, where the suburb\u2019s Commonwealth Bank (CBA)<\/a> branch closed down.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jason Bryce began his crusade when his local bank branches began to close.\u00a0Jason Bryce<\/p>\n

Bryce then moved to nearby Williamstown, where the CBA is scheduled to shut its doors in November, and the same fate awaits the bank\u2019s Altona and Altona North branches.<\/p>\n

Crucially, the ATMs will remain accessible at all three locations as CBA consolidates the branches into one at Altona Gate Shopping Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the number of CommBank ATMs across these locations will increase from six to seven, with ATMs available across all four locations,\u201d a spokesperson told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

While CBA announced a moratorium on regional bank closures, the big-four bank is still thinning the herd in capital cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all very sudden, and that was despite the fact there was a queue out the door, especially on pension day,\u201d Bryce told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryce founded popular advocacy group Cash Welcome, which champions better access to cash and keep physical banknotes flowing in Australia.<\/p>\n

The graveyard of major bank branches in Melbourne and Sydney has pushed him to challenge lenders like CBA to keep cash readily available.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty clear that they weren\u2019t responding to changing consumer behaviour. They are pushing us away from cash,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Commonwealth Bank branches will shut next year in Williamstown, Altona and Altona North in Melbourne.\u00a0Reuters\/Edgar Su\/File Photo<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s crawl toward a cashless society was slowed when a federal cash mandate<\/a> was introduced for grocery and fuel retailers, enforceable only for transactions of $500 or less.<\/p>\n

The recent Reserve Bank decision to ban card surcharges has also tipped the scales in the favour of cash advocates.<\/p>\n

Spenders responded to the RBA\u2019s decision in droves: the total value of Australian banknotes on issue surged to a record-high of $109.389 billion just weeks after the ban kicked in.<\/p>\n

But Bryce insists these welcome changes may be pointless if many Australians \u2013 particularly older and regional residents \u2013 cannot access banks in-person.<\/p>\n

The number of bank branches in Australia has dwindled to 1459 from 2335 between 2017 and 2025, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).<\/p>\n

Some of the country\u2019s biggest banks have committed to a pause on regional closures until 2030. <\/p>\n

However, the looming expiration date could spell chaos for cash advocates.<\/p>\n

Bryce is certain that lawmakers and banks can do more to support a national cash guarantee.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s crawl toward a cashless society was slowed when a federal cash mandate was introduced for grocery and fuel retailers.\u00a0Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

His Change.org petition<\/a> calls for stronger legislation to ensure Australians have reasonable local access to cash or banking services and the choice to pay cash at every physical retailer.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are just excluded from the cash economy, and it\u2019s on the banks as much as anybody,\u201d Bryce said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe banks have got to support the cash system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 223,000 people have signed his call to arms, with the petition gathering momentum after the Coalition flagged plans to introduce a \u201cCash is King\u201d bill that would force most retailers to accept in-cash transactions of up to $2000, up from $500, and remove the 7am to 9pm restriction.<\/p>\n

Bryce\u2019s petition demands that all suburbs and communities have an ATM or bank within reach.<\/p>\n

He points out that the Netherlands introduced a law in early 2026 that mandates accessible and free ATMs within five kilometres of any person.<\/p>\n

To facilitate this, four major Dutch banks merged their ATMs into one shared network.<\/p>\n

A similar scheme could be implemented in Australia after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) green-lit a three-year trial for shared regional ATMs.<\/p>\n

It would see the top four lenders and other major banks pool their resources to set up face-to-face financial hubs in about 10 towns currently without a branch.<\/p>\n

The proposal requires an exemption from existing laws to enable the banks to work together.<\/p>\n

Bryce is confident his petition \u2013 and the Australians who signed it \u2013 can help reverse the damage done by years of bank closures and cash bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that legal tender means we have a right to choose cash to pay for the goods we need to live,\u201d Bryce added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the banks have got to provide access to cash.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Jason Bryce\u2019s crusade against the cashless movement began when his local bank branches started to disappear. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-945633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}