The Commonwealth Bank’s decision to reduce fees for customers making withdrawals has sparked widespread anger from politicians, media figures and ordinary Australians.
The bank will abolish its ‘Full Access Account’ and replace it with a ‘Smart Access Account’ that will be charged a $3 fee for each withdrawal from a branch, post office or telephone, starting January 6 .
Deputy Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones called the move a “slap in the face” to loyal customers and the “worst Christmas present imaginable”.
“The Commonwealth Bank needs to reconsider this terrible decision,” he said.
‘This appears to be a tax on Australians demanding the right to use their cash. And the government will not tolerate it.
“We are working to ensure that Australians can continue to use cash if they wish.”
North Queensland-based federal MP Bob Katter described the new charge as “an act of defiance and contempt for the people of Australia”.
He said the bank was “fighting back” against the recent announcement that businesses selling essential goods and services such as food, medicine and fuel will be forced to accept cash from their customers unless they are granted a special exemption in early 2026. .
The Commonwealth Bank has announced there will be a $3 fee for people withdrawing money over the counter at a branch or post office or by phone from next January.
Katter told Channel 10’s The Project on Tuesday night that he hasn’t had a “good relationship with banks over the years” and doesn’t want to need their permission to get a loaf of bread.
He said the first thing that came to mind was that the fee resembled the way Indigenous people in Queensland were once treated.
“If you were a black Australian, rather than a white Australian, then you were paid your salary into a government account,” he said.
“And the only way to access your money was to go see the local police officer and explain the reasons why you wanted them to take that money from you so you could use it.”
Panelist Hamish Macdonald asked Mr Katter why he thought the fee was a measure to control people who simply used cards to buy things.
“You can use that card because the bank gives you permission to use it,” Mr. Katter responded.
If the bank says no, you can’t use that card, then you can’t go to another bank because they send the records, you to them.
“So it’s on record at every bank in Australia that we don’t like you, you speak ill of the banks and you’ve been a naughty boy at times, so we won’t let you use the bank account.” . Well, if you can’t do that, you won’t be able to buy a lot of bread.
Federal MP Bob Katter argued the fee was part of a banking “counterattack” against the use of cash.
Sydney radio station 2GB unit host Chris ‘O’Keefe was even more scathing, calling the cash grab “beyond obscene”.
“Charging a fee to access our own money is nothing more than a dirty little money grab,” he said.
‘How much blood do they want from us?’
He could barely contain his disbelief at the bank’s claim that the move “is part of our effort to provide Australians with the best banking experience”.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” O’Keefe said.
‘Are these people real?’
O’Keefe said assessing cash clients costs the financial giant around $400 million a year, but noted the bank made a huge profit of almost $10 billion last financial year after tax.
“It’s about improving outcomes,” O’Keefe said.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that it “continues to offer customers free cash withdrawals from our national ATM network.”
They added that it would continue to “offer waivers of assisted withdrawal fees for customers who meet certain criteria, including certain types of pension recipients, those depositing $2,000 a month and those under 18.”
“Our Streamline Basic account has no monthly account fees or assisted withdrawal fees and is available to customers who hold an eligible concession card.”
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones called the bank’s move a “slap in the face” to loyal customers.
New withdrawal fees for Commonwealth Bank customers come into effect on January 6
O’Keefe was concerned about the most disadvantaged in the community because that is who the Commonwealth Bank is targeting.
“Let’s think about the elderly, the disabled or people who live in rural areas where access to an ATM and digital banking is almost impossible,” he said, noting that these difficulties were created by the bank,” he said.
‘Going to a branch might be the only way these people pay their bills for the week and now they’re going to be charged $3 for that privilege.
O’Keefe highlighted the Commonwealth’s policy statement on accessibility and inclusion.
The bank’s website says its goal is to create “inclusive products, services, experiences and workplaces that provide equal access and dignity to all our customers, people and communities.”
Sydney radio host Chris O’Keefe (pictured with wife Yvonne) called the bank’s move “greedy as all sodomy”.
“We call this “dignity by design,” the website states.
“Where’s the dignity in charging?” I’ll ask CEO Matt Comyn, three dollars for a disabled person who can’t use an ATM, a blind person, a pensioner or a homeless person waiting for their payments to go down. Where is the dignity? in what?’ -O’Keefe asked.
He described the measure as “greedy like all sodomy.”
“This payment is wrong from a moral, ethical and financial point of view. It is wrong, it is wrong, it is wrong,” he said.
Social media users were equally outraged when some threatened to leave the bank.
‘Absolute shame as a customer of a State Savings Bank/Commonwealth Bank for 55 years. “We will seriously consider changing banks,” one X user tweeted on Tuesday.
‘If the Commonwealth Bank imposes a fee, decided by them, to access my own money, how is that not extortion? …and that’s why you don’t bank at the Commonwealth Bank.’
Some argued that it was a good reason to return the Commonwealth to public hands, as the institution was sold under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments in the early and mid-1990s.
“Renationalize the Commonwealth Bank,” wrote one X user.
‘It should never have been privatized in the first place.
‘Our politicians are criminals for selling off assets that were once publicly owned, like this bank, Telstra, the energy sector and more.
“Because of this, we are bleeding to death,”
.