“We fully support the government in its decision to ensure that there is a place [for cash in Australian society] for as long as Australians want it,” he said on Wednesday at the Intersekt Festival in Melbourne.
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“A lot of work is going on now to help ensure that the infrastructure that sits around the distribution of cash in the country is put onto a stronger footing. That’s really welcome.
“There’s a lot of energy being directed to that end, but the position of the Reserve Bank has been steadfast in that we have been supportive of the government and ensure that there’s an ongoing role for cash in Australia for as long as Australians value it.”
The assistant governor didn’t elaborate on what threshold the central bank would use to determine if or when Aussies didn’t value physical money anymore.
From an everyday Aussie perspective, it seems there is a palpable value for cash.
A poll of nearly 10,000 Yahoo Finance readers found 83 per cent felt physical money would never become obsolete. A separate survey of more than 25,000 people found 93 per cent would be against Australia becoming fully cashless.
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How bad is cash’s decline in Australia?
The RBA’s Consumer Payments Survey, which is the most recent figures, said the share of in-person cash transactions halved from 32 per cent to 16 per cent between 2019 and 2022.
That’s a humungous drop from the nearly 70 per cent of in-person transactions involving cash by number recorded in 2007.
When you accounted for all types of payments, including those made online, cash payments made up 13 per cent by number in 2022, and 8 per cent by value.
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) predicted that cash use by number is expected to drop to just 4 per cent by 2030.
It’s unclear how low that number has to go before the RBA changes its “unwavering” support for physical money’s protection, but that day might never come.
The ABA also recently revealed that four billion payments were made through mobile wallets last year, worth a “staggering” $160 billion.
That’s 11 times more payments than the 353 million ATM cash withdrawals, which were worth $106 billion, indicating how popular mobile wallet payments like Apple Pay and Google Wallet have become.
This also comes when the number of bank branches and ATMs available is declining.
Canstar revealed in October that 230 bank branches shut over the 2023-24 financial year, while more than 6,000 ATMs have been removed over the last half-decade.
Cash might only have 10 years left in Australia
RBA governor Michele Bullock predicted earlier this year that cash likely has another decade of shelf life left.
But she said work needed to be done in the time between now and then to protect cash users.
“What we need to do as society is decide how do we want to ensure that those who still rely on [cash] for good reason still have access to it, and how we provide it to them,” she said.
“Cash is not making a rebound. I don’t think anything is going to turn it around. It is on a long-term decline because people find making electronic payments much more efficient.
RBA governor Michele Bullock said cash might only have 10 years left in Australia. (Source: AAP)
“But we’ve got to think that cash is going to be around probably for another 10 years, and we’ve got to find a way of moving to a new system that means that distribution of cash can be undertaken and viable.”
Jones and Bullock’s reference to cash’s distribution infrastructure refers to Armaguard, the beleaguered cash-in-transit company that’s responsible for moving 90 per cent of the country’s money around.
It nearly collapsed last year, but was saved by an 11th-hour $50 million lifeline from Australia Post, the Big Four banks, supermarkets and other stakeholders who rely on cash.
That deal was renewed in July, but there are questions about whether this would be a yearly deal or if a more long-term strategy is needed.
The government is hoping to introduce legislation at the start of 2026 that would force essential businesses and services to always carry and accept cash.
That would include businesses like petrol stations, supermarkets, and GP clinics.
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