Cash ban flim flam nears end

Ian Rogers
Jenny McAllister, upending cash hoarding or cash banning?
The Labor Party caucus in Canberra will soon need to make up their minds on the merits - or the ills - of the proposed A$10,000 "cash ban" on personal and business purchases.

The Senate two weeks ago extended until Friday 28 February as the date for the Economics Legislation Committee to report on the Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019.

Banking Day chimed in from the get go on the side of civil liberties, pointing out the use value of all that dormant, hoarded cash pile and doubting the public value that may be produced via the now controversial proposed ban.

"A law may soon be enacted that will be widely ignored, and pray that this happen," Banking Day editorialised back in July.

And as followers of the goldbug John Adams and the overlapping campaign by Martin North at Digital Financial Analytics will know, the energy on the "anti" side of this debate is dogged.

Adams, who writes at Adams Economics, on Friday circulated his assessment of the numbers in the Senate following a lobbying round last week.

"During my day roaming around Federal Parliament, I was able to meet with all the necessary political parties including Liberals, Nationals, Labor, One Nation, the Greens, Central Alliance and Jacqui Lambie's offices," Adams wrote.

"At this stage, all crossbench parties - the Greens, One Nation, Central Alliance and Jacqui Lambie have indicated that they will oppose the ban.

"The Greens this week made it official through a series of statements and e-mails with the public that they formally oppose the cash transaction ban.

"With Labor, signs look quite promising. Several Labor politicians are strongly opposed to the cash transaction ban and attempting to build opposition support within the ALP.

"Many people in the ALP are looking to see what Senators Jenny McAllister and Kimberly Kitching produce in the current Senate Economics Committee inquiry," Adams said.

McAllister, from the Left, and a former National President of the ALP, used the two public hearings on the bill to explore many of the themes of dissenting written submissions on the bill.

There is very little on the record from the point of view of the Shadow Cabinet so far.

Early on, Stephen Jones, Labor's shadow assistant treasurer said the proposed laws made sense.

The political climate nationally at the moment has Scott Morrison's government on the ropes and if the ALP can detach itself from the mischief defining the most recent parliamentary sittings and get pack to policy as politics, the cash ban seems likely to be defeated in the Senate next month.