No plans for Aus Post to deliver a bank

By Lachlan Ellis

Major banks are closing branches across regional Australia, including here in Moorabool, has some economists and political candidates thinking ‘out of the post box’: what if Australia Post also served as a public bank?

575 Australian towns that once had at least one of the ‘big four’ banks now have no form of bank at all, with more than 1700 bank branches closing across the country since 1975.

Ballan has lost two of the big four banks with Westpac closing in the 90s, and the Commonwealth Bank closing last year. Bacchus Marsh, which once had five banks in town, now has just two: the Commonwealth Bank and the Bacchus Marsh Community Bank Branch.

The closures of Commonwealth Bank in Ballan, and ANZ, NAB, and Westpac in Bacchus Marsh, were among 113 bank closures across regional Australia last year.

On 8 July 2009, six economists from across the country published an open letter in The Age, asking whether there was a role for “a publicly owned entity akin to KiwiBank in New Zealand”, here in Australia.

In 2020, a report by progressive think tank Per Capita found that an Australia Post public bank could “reinvigorate regional Australia”, and “speed up Australia’s transition to a post-carbon economy”.

In more recent times the proposal was picked up by the Australian Citizens Party (ACP), forming a central part of the ACP’s 2022 federal election campaign, inspired by KiwiBank, which also runs through post offices.

The ACP has argued a public post office bank would assist regional small businesses, ensure cash availability and cash payments, and lift banking conduct standards by providing an alternative to the private banks.

With 4320 post offices in the Australia Post network, the party argues, “the capacity to provide a face-to-face public banking service around the nation is already in place, and communities that are losing their bank branches will not have to worry anymore”.

The Moorabool News asked Australia Post whether the public bank proposal was feasible, with a spokesperson saying its focus was on its ‘Bank@Post’ services, which allows Australia Post customers to deposit and withdraw money from private, third-party banks.

“Australia Post offers access to banking services via Bank@Post at over 3500 Post Offices across Australia. Bank@Post provides access to personal and small business banking for over 80 participating banks and financial institutions and is particularly important for Australians living and working in regional and remote communities,” the Australia Post spokesperson told the Moorabool News.

“The Moorabool community can access Bank@Post services at a number of post offices in the area.”

Money can be deposited and withdrawn from private banks using Bank@Post, however, EFTPOS can’t be used for deposits, and there are limits on how much can be withdrawn daily, usually $2000 depending on the bank.

The ACP has started a petition calling on the Federal Government to establish a national postal bank.