Demands to Halt Bank Closures After Optus Outage: Resist Push Towards Cashless Society
The Optus outage has sparked fears of a world without cash. Cash advocates are calling for a halt to bank and automated teller machine closures in Australia following a major telecommunications outage. Ten million Australians and 40,000 businesses were affected when Australia’s second largest telecommunications network went down on Nov. 8. The disruption led to coffee shops, bowling alleys, businesses, and government authorities without access to Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) services across Australia. As a response, the telecommunications company said it is providing 200GB of free data to impacted customers to acknowledge their patience and loyalty. However, both a Senate and a separate government inquiry are now looming for Optus.
The outage resulted in widespread disruptions to mobile, data, and internet services, affecting various government departments, including health. In light of these challenges, Cash Welcome, a grassroots campaign working to protect the right to use and access cash, is calling for an “immediate pause” on all banks and ATMs. “They can’t build a reliable digital payment system—so stop herding us into a cashless society,” Cash Welcome posted to social media. The Cash Welcome campaign noted millions of Australians were left stranded without the ability to make payments due to a nationwide outage. “To make the situation worse, there are fewer places to get cash because banks and bank-owned ATMs are closing,” Cash Welcome said. “Stop closing cash access points. EFTPOS and internet and power can all fail and can’t be relied upon. Stop food shops going cashless. Let us choose how to pay for our essentials.”
An Optus service message displayed on a phone outside an Optus store in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 5, 2022Among the businesses impacted was the Break Away Cafe in Esperance, Western Australia. “Optus network is out so we have no EFTPOS facilities at the moment, another reason why cash is king,” the Break Away cafe posted on social media on the morning of the Optus outage. The Pink Pig Wine Bar in North Adelaide, South Australia, also advised it was only able to take cash due to the Optus outage. Also in Adelaide, the Kandy House, said it could not be contacted from the shop or phone and advised payment systems could be down on the morning of the outage. McDonalds Wholesalers, in Geraldton Western Australia, also posted to Facebook, “Sorry guys we have no EFTPOS… cash only.”The incident followed a massive data breach in April, leading to a major law firm launching a class action on behalf of customers. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he understood this was the single biggest telecommunications outage seen in Australia.
A “network event” was responsible for the major shutdown of services for many hours, Optus explained in a statement on Nov. 9. The telecommunications company said its engineers were investigating and the company would learn from the outage and continue to improve. The company said they welcome and intend to fully cooperate with government investigations. “In common with major global telecommunication networks, the Optus network is designed with multiple layers of fallback and redundancy. At the heart of this is a modern intelligent router network developed with the world’s leading vendors,” Optus said. “Despite this, a network event yesterday triggered a cascading failure which resulted in the shutdown of services to our customers.”
One Nation Senator for Queensland Malcolm Roberts said like many other Australians, in recent months he has rarely used credit cards and instead used cash. “Please join with us and use cash,” he said in an X (formerly Twitter) post. Gerard Rennick, Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland, also called for physical branches to stay open and provide the option to use cash. “The outage by Optus today just goes to show why banks need to keep branches open so that people can access cash to buy essential goods and services,” he said on the day of the incident. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission does not require businesses to accept cash. Businesses only need to communicate what payments they take and how much a product will cost. In late September, a KFC outlet in the Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales (NSW) sparked outrage when a sign emerged at the restaurant stating “This restaurant is cashless, we accept card only.” Customer Evan Burrell expressed concern for the elderly, and people with a disability such as blindness. He has observed the trend of card-only transactions at three other stores on the Central Coast in NSW. “How long do you think it will be before all shops and everything in between stop cash transactions?” he said.
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