13% of Australians still use cash for essential goods

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Despite fewer Australians using cash, the government is set to force businesses to accept banknotes as payment for essential items like groceries and fuel.   But not everywhere. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says small firms could be exempt.

Transcript

00:00I have lots of varieties in traditional and modern look.

00:06Yusuf Qureshi has been selling carpets for 23 years.

00:10Yeah, it's fine cash, you can pay cash, no problem.

00:14He says for his older customers, cash is still king.

00:17They're saving their money, they buy their grandson or granddaughter or something like

00:23this, they want to pay cash for them.

00:28About 13% of Australians still use cash, but this butcher says about 40% of their customers

00:34pay with it.

00:35The older generation sometimes they feel struggling with the card, yeah I think so, they say how

00:41does it work, yeah, but a little bit younger they just tap and go.

00:45I think I prefer to use card, it just saves me from carrying cash around with me and it's

00:49all on my phone now as well.

00:51Yeah I use cash all the time, it's easier for me to just hand over cash and then I put

00:55the coins in a big jar at home.

00:57The government's changing the law to force businesses to take cash for essential items

01:02like groceries and fuel.

01:04The Assistant Treasurer says he may carve small businesses out, but that cash provides

01:08an essential fallback when digital payments break down.

01:12We've all been standing at a queue in a supermarket or a shop somewhere and they say the FPOS

01:16or the payment system's gone down, the power's out.

01:20We want to ensure that that doesn't become a crippling event right across the economy.

01:25While cash is here to stay, the government has said that cheques are on the way out.

01:29By September 2029 it won't allow them to be used as a form of payment.

01:34Cheques are a very, very small part of the payment system, they've been dwindling for

01:39ages, but what is the replacement and is that replacement going to be a like for like or

01:44fit for purpose?

01:46While these issues get sorted out, Yusuf is giving his customers who use cash a little

01:51extra discount.

01:54For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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