Narrabri Shire councillors unanimously voted to endorse a draft submission to the Inquiry into Bank Closures in Regional Australia.
The recommendation was put forward by councillor John Clements and seconded by deputy mayor Darrell Tiemens at last Tuesday’s ordinary council meeting.
NSC general manager Rob Williams was the officer responsible for the draft submission to the Senate standing committee on rural and regional affairs and transport, with the report authored by NSC director of planning and sustainability Donna Ausling.
“It’s an excellent summary of the reports and the concerns and recommendations,” said Cr Clements.
“Happy to move the motion. It’s good work by staff. Many businesses are still cash businesses.
“This is a good report, it gets into the potential change through Australia Post. I look forward to us following through with the federal government and making sure we can get these changes.”
The submission explained how the shire had been heavily impacted by bank closures, with the Wee Waa community “most affected by these changes”.
The draft submission discussed the Regional Banking Taskforce Final Report released in September 2022, the impact of previous bank closures on the community and the decrease in service provision such as the progressive reduction in opening hours. It said Narrabri was serviced by four major banks and a credit union.
“However, the community and council is noticing the lessening of services from two of the major banks,” stated the draft submission.
“This relates to opening hours where one bank opens from 10am to 2pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 4pm on Fridays.
“The other only opens from 930am to 1pm daily. So not only are banks looking at smaller areas to close their outlets, it is apparent that the sector is now turning to neighbourhoods with populations of around 7000, which means there are a lot of communities in regional Australia that will be adversely affected by this focus.”
The draft submission said the closure of the Wee Waa ANZ branch and removal of its ATM in 2021 “caused both disappointment and considerable inconvenience to the community”.
“Significant challenges to vulnerable members of the community were also occasioned. ANZ customers now face an 84-kilometre trip to access banking services in Narrabri. It should be noted that public transport is extremely limited between the two centres.
“During November 2022, the community of Wee Waa faced isolation from flooding for extended periods,” the draft submission states.
“Whilst council acknowledges that access to technology for baking services is increasing, internet connectivity is frequently intermittent and unreliable in rural and regional areas particularly in the areas surrounding Wee Waa and Narrabri.
“During flooding events, the issue is often exacerbated due to telecommunications infrastructure damage.
“Limited justification was provided to the community and key stakeholders (including council) on the rationale for closure of the ANZ bank.
“In a further blow to the community, the closure of the ANZ facility was closely followed by the closure of the NAB facility in Wee Waa, leaving Wee Waa with no banking facilities.”
The draft submission said, “local bank branches are an integral part of regional communities”.
“The closure of branches impacts the accessibility of banking services, particularly for the elderly, vulnerable people, community groups and local businesses. The impacts continue to be apparent following the closure of the ANZ and NAB Wee Waa branches.”
In relation to the bank branch closure process, council’s draft submission recommended: the implementation of the Regional Banking Taskforce report; a requirement to publicly provide a branch closure impact assessment report for community comment and stakeholder input prior to any facility closure or service reduction being undertaken; and where branch closure impact assessments identify deleterious impacts on a community that cannot be appropriately managed nor mitigated, that service closure not be permitted to proceed within these communities.
The draft submission also highlighted the economic and welfare impacts of bank closures on customers and regional communities, and the negative implications of removing face-to-face services and access to cash.
“The loss of ongoing and direct banking relationships is frustrating for the community and leads to both unsatisfactory and untimely responses, frequently resulting in lost opportunities. It is acknowledged that our local branch closures have increased security risks due to cash being held for longer periods of time in addition to higher costs being incurred by local business.
“The closure of local branches has resulted in the loss of rural bank managers that are accustomed to dealing with the rural community in times of distress. Bank@Post is an important provider of banking services locally, however, as detailed previously, not all banks have reciprocal arrangements in place. Opportunities currently exist for the embedding of bank staff in local Post Offices and/or improving financial/banking services, generally.”
Council’s business paper said bank closures in regional Australia was referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for Inquiry to report by December 1, 2023.
The terms of the Inquiry include: the branch closure process, including the reasons given for closures; the economic and welfare impacts of bank closures on customers and regional communities; the effect of bank closures or the removal of face-to-face cash services on access to cash; he effectiveness of government banking statistics capturing and reporting regional service levels, including the Australian Prudential Authority’s authorised deposit-taking institutions points of presence data; consideration of solutions; and any other related matters.
Representations have also been made to council by the Wee Waa Chamber of Commerce.
