Every time I wander onto the green at Links Hope Island Golf Club and reach for a fiver to grab a bottle of water, I’m reminded that cash is becoming as welcome as a sand wedge in a bunker. Because at this grand old club – like far too many businesses these days – cash simply isn’t accepted anymore. Want water, snacks, anything at all? Tap your card, mate, or go thirsty.
It bugs me: we’re supposed to live in a society where paper money is “legal tender,” yet handing over a wad of notes feels about as useful as a blank cheque. And legally? Despite what many retirees (and tradies) believe, there is no law in Australia that forces a business to accept your cash.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), cash is indeed legal tender – but that doesn’t oblige shops, clubs, or golf courses to accept it. If a business specifies another payment method before the transaction (card, EFTPOS, whatever), that becomes the contract.
So we’re left with a farcical situation: we’re told cash remains an essential pillar of the economy, yet in practice it’s being slowly shoved aside. A recent survey shows that in 2024, around 80 per cent of card-accepting merchants with a physical presence still accepted cash – but worryingly, one in three of them plan to stop accepting it in future. And according to one report, 16 per cent of small and medium businesses have already gone fully cashless.
Meanwhile, the consumers grumbling about this shift are no small fringe group. A survey from CHOICE – the consumer advocacy organisation – found a staggering 97 per cent of respondents believe businesses supplying essential goods and services should be required to accept cash.
Yes, there is some movement at the political level: the federal government has proposed that, starting January 2026, some “essential” businesses (supermarkets, fuel, pharmacies, utilities, and health services) should be forced to accept cash – although many smaller businesses would be exempt from the requirement.
That may address grocery stores and fuel pumps – but what about golf clubs, cafés, or the corner store that gives you nothing but a blank stare when you dangle a $20 note?
It seems to me the only people still fighting for cash are the battlers – the tradies who knock 10 per cent off the bill if you pay in cash, because “it keeps the taxman off the trail.” Inevitably, the tax office came down on them. And now, thanks to our increasingly card-dependent society, the rest of us are paying.
Because every time we pay with plastic:
The business pays a merchant fee.
Or we pay – via surcharges, or subtly higher prices baked in.
Or perhaps a bit of both.
The invisible extra cost, spread across every buy, is quietly creeping up.
We don’t need to wind the clock back to the 1950s. But surely, we should still be able to use real money when we want. Especially when it’s the club bar on a sweltering Saturday and all you need is a cold bottle of water after 14 holes.
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