After thousands of years of hoarding cash, we’re now throwing it overboard.
Professor Richard Holden predicts that Australia could be cash free by 2020. Really? So soon? The Westpac Cash Free Report revealed that Australian smartphone users predict a cash free Australia by 2022.
Australian ATM cash withdrawals are falling rapidly from their 2008 peak and more than 75 per cent of face-to-face transactions are now ‘Tap-and-Go’—it’s over 90 per cent in some countries.
Sweden wants to be the first completely cashless society and smartphone Apps like Swish may be their secret. Even Sub-Saharan African countries are seeing a rapid rise in smartphone transactions.
Some argue that cash removal is yet another confiscation of freedoms under the guise of increasing our security. However, its supporters predict a reduction in street muggings, robberies, drug sales, money laundering and tax evasion. It’s also sold as the coolest, fastest, simplest way to live, with the bonus of fraud protection and free airline miles thrown in. Irresistible!
It also makes it much easier for the immediate and complete cancellation of any ability to buy or sell for anyone who refuses to abide by any law of the land. So how could that ever be a bad thing?1
Julian Archer is the author of Help! I’ve Been Blessed! and writes from Toowoomba, Queensland.
