Mandating Cash Acceptance: Consultation Paper
Submission Date: 21 February 2025
The Law Council of Australia provided a response to the Treasury’s December 2024 Consultation Paper on mandating cash acceptance.
The Consultation Paper seeks comments on the Government’s intention to mandate that businesses supplying essential goods and services must accept cash as a payment method, with appropriate exemptions for small businesses.1
Whilst the Law Council has received strong feedback from its Constituent Bodies about why the use of cash remains important in 21st century Australia, the Law Council has also received a variety of queries about how the proposed mandate would be applied in practice. Accordingly, while the Law Council supports, in principle, the aim of guaranteeing that cash remains a viable and accessible in-person payment option for essential items, the Law Council has not yet had an opportunity to reach a conclusive position on the application and scope of the proposed mandate. The Law Council's views should, therefore, be considered preliminary and subject to further review.
The Consultation Paper indicates that public consultation on exposure draft legislation is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2025, with legislation expected to be introduced into the Parliament in the fourth quarter of 2025.2 The Law Council strongly supports a public consultation process that provides sufficient time to meaningfully engage with the proposed measures. Given the high-level nature of the Consultation Paper and the practical concerns that are raised in this submission, early and reasonable public consultation on exposure draft legislation will be critical.
1 The Treasury, Mandating cash acceptance (Consultation Paper, December 2024) 3.
2 Ibid 28.
Last Updated on 27/05/2025
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