It appears Australia is truly on its way to becoming a cashless society, with the number of notes in circulation officially declining for the first time since dollars and cents were introduced in 1966.
According to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), more than a billion dollars worth of physical cash disappeared from circulation in the last financial year, a shift that’s likely to make life more difficult for the elderly and for those in the regions.
Authorities say less cash will also hurt the nation’s criminals, who rely heavily on its use, making it harder for them to make transactions undetected.
Every year since 1966 when the country transitioned from pounds and shillings to decimal currency, the total value and number of notes in circulation increased.
That all came crashing to a halt in the 2022-23 financial year, with a sharp decrease in $50 notes especially.
The RBA’s survey of consumers’ payment trends revealed that a third of Aussies now consider themselves “low cash users” – meaning they claim to use cash for less than 20 per cent of all their in-person transactions.
In 2019, about half of the nation’s residents were reported as such.
Despite the rise of ultra-quick payment forms such as Apple Pay and other touch-and-go methods, cash use actually increased during the COVID years, despite the preference of electronic payments at the time.
But jump forward three years, there’s now just $101.3 billion in cash circulating around the country, according to the RBA, which is the smallest since November 2019.
The number of $5 notes fell to the lowest point since October ’19, with the number of $20 notes (May 2021) and $50 notes (August 2021) is also on a sharp decline.
The $100 note however is increasing slightly, but even they are slowing overall.
It’s expected that cash use will continue to decrease in the coming years, similar to the use of cheques, which are set to wrap up completely in the country by 2030.
