I pay cash! Why a right to use legal tender creates a policy and electoral burn

By Julian Bajkowski

April 5, 2024

ATM-cash-elderly man
Cash enables social and economic access and equity. (Kaleb/AI-generated/Adobe)

In the lead-up to Easter, Australia’s banking system and the government not so quietly faced a tipping point around the availability of cash that forced major supermarkets to reconsider their place in the payments system and the economy as a whole.

Faced with a potential major limitation of cash distribution, Coles pushed forward a reduction of transactions-plus-cash from $400 to $200 to absorb a potential ‘run’ on hard currency amid operational uncertainty around secure cash logistics firm Armaguard.

It was a cash crunch that was decades in the making, and the move was unprecedented – but it was not unexpected.

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