Cyberspace no substitute for hard cash

By Graham Cooke

Australia's independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, is well known for his combative style. He hates poker machines and seeks to have them limited at every opportunity, and has pursued a relentless campaign against the Church of Scientology which he accuses of a range of abuses including coercing its members into having abortions.

These are issues which should certainly be explored further, but whether Xenophon is going about it the right way is open to question. However, there is one issue on which I will back him to the hilt.

In a recent Senate debate on financial legislation, Xenophon sought to introduce an amendment making it illegal for banks or any other organisation or institution to charge their customers a penalty fee for paying their accounts with cash.

Neither of the major parties were interested, reasons ranging through irrelevance to the legislation being debated to the precedent of telling organisations how they do business.

There was a general feeling the move away from cash transactions was inevitable. One senator pointed out the controversy that erupted when employers started insisting their workers should have bank accounts into which their wages and salaries could be paid, rather than receiving their remuneration in cash.

The senator said that as everyone accepted bank payments now, the same would be the case with penalties for cash payments.

This completely misses the point. No one should have to pay for the right to present the coin of the realm in order to settle an account for items or services purchased. To do so is a violation of conventions governing transactions that go back hundreds, even thousands of years.

The fact that legal tender has such a long history is the reason why there are no rules protecting its acceptance. Until now they have never been considered necessary.

Organisations have a vested interest in pushing their customers towards non-cash transactions. Payments made over the internet involve fewer staff, fewer processing steps and therefore higher profits. Front counters no longer have to manned, banknotes and coins do not have to be counted and reconciled at the end of each day.

Instead of difficult-to-manage banknotes and coins, dollars and cents become simply 'units of exchange' shifted around in cyberspace.

There may come a time when this is universally acceptable. Young people today conduct virtually all their financial transactions online and presumably will continue to do so throughout their lives.

But as of now there are still many people who grew to maturity in a world before the internet and still find it difficult to handle. A recent survey found that only one in five Australians over 65 was 'online'.

These people should not be punished for taking their bills into a shopfront and paying over the counter in the time-honoured way with notes and coins.

I hope that Senator Xenophon pursues this issue with the same zeal he has shown with poker machine operators and suspect religious institutions.