This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Let's get real. Last time I checked, my big fat wallet was so full of Eftpos receipts and loyalty cards - with not a banknote to be seen - I decided to get rid of it. It hadn't seen much cash for probably 10 years. And certainly after the pandemic and the switch to contactless payments, it has seen none. There was a $2 coin jammed in there for a while but it went too, replaced by a supermarket trolley token clipped to the car keys. And the loyalty cards are superfluous when all the shop ever wants is your mobile number.
So the other day, the wallet was retired, replaced by a nifty card holder which doesn't bulge out the jeans pockets. It makes me wonder if all this fuss over who gets to be featured on the $5 note after Queen Elizabeth comes off is really worth it or just the ongoing search for any new angle on the rapidly ageing Queen story.
The PM barely concealed his annoyance at his media appearance on Tuesday when he fielded a question about it. No, he said, he hadn't given any thought to it. "We will deal with these issues appropriately, in an orderly way, in a way that is respectful, so I have not turned my attention towards that matter," he said with an eye roll. It's a safe bet Albo, like many of us, rarely conducts a cash transaction. It might be different for children, however, who are unlikely to have bank cards of their own and rely on cold, hard moolah to pay for that pack of Zappos down at the corner store.
The Echidna remembers well the excitement when Australia transitioned from pounds, shillings and pence to decimal currency. The first kid who produced from their pocket the two-cent coin with the frill-necked lizard on it became the recess celebrity. The five-cent piece with the echidna on it - well, you can guess how special that was. And the 50-cent piece, the initial round one, that was stratospheric. We'd been gearing up for the changeover for what felt like ages. "In come the dollars, in come the cents," the TV jingle went, "to replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence." Dollars and cents sounded so grown up, so modern and American and cool, especially for a six-year-old whose TV diet was almost entirely yankee doodle dandy.
The copper coins have long since passed into oblivion, along with $1 and $2 notes, and everyday cash itself seems to be on the endangered list as people tap cards, phones and even watches when making a purchase. An interesting Reserve Bank survey from before the pandemic showed that in 2019, 27 per cent of all consumer payments were made with cash, down from 37 per cent in 2016 and 69 per cent in 2007. It also found that by value, cash payments accounted for only 10 per cent of all consumer payments, down from just under 40 per cent in 2007. However, it's too early to call time on cash.
The RBA also reports that while cash transactions have declined over the years, the demand for banknotes as a store of wealth has risen sharply, especially during the pandemic. "The value of banknotes in circulation grew by 17.1 per cent over the year to February 2021 reaching $97.3 billion. This compares with average annual growth in banknotes outstanding of around 5 per cent over the previous decade. As a result, the value of banknotes in circulation, measured as a percentage of GDP, has reached a historic high of 4.9 per cent," it reported in March 2021.
In times of uncertainty, it seems, a lot of us still like to hang on to the folding stuff. Not in our wallets but maybe in our mattresses because we don't trust banks. But really, in a year or so when a decision is made on the $5 note, will we really be fussed over whose dial is printed on it? Hopefully not.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you still use cash? Or are you a swipe and tap customer? Do you care whose face appears on the $5 note? If you do, whose face should it be? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Australia's north and eastern regions will be in for yet another soggy spring and summer, after the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed another La Nina event is under way in the tropical Pacific. The third La Nina event in a row, combined with a continuing negative Indian Ocean Dipole will likely mean Australia's east coast is set for holiday season downpours.
- Labor's website pledges to "legislate" a federal anti-corruption commission this year, despite Anthony Albanese continuing to deny making that promise. The PM is under pressure from integrity-focused crossbenchers after appearing to walk back a promise to implement the watchdog by 2023. But Mr Albanese threw down the gauntlet on Tuesday, insisting he is "ready to vote" this month and warning any delay "won't be because of the Labor Party".
- Former Pacific Island nation presidents have challenged the Albanese government to "walk the talk" on climate action and start phasing out of the fossil fuels which threaten the future of their region. Anote Tong, the former president of Kiribati, said Pacific nations would be questioning how serious the new Australian government was about tackling global warming when new coal and gas projects were allowed to be approved on its shores.
THEY SAID IT: "Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight." - Johnny Cash
YOU SAID IT: Mourn porn and the ABC's wall-to-wall coverage certainly got the spikes flying.
Let's start with Lorraine: "To be fair to Aunty, the coverage has been on all the stations 24/7. Channel 7 Prime is the worst, the same regurgitated rubbish over and over again. Channel 9, the same thing. How many times do you have to see the same thing to realise she is dead? I am not a royalist, but have nothing against the Queen. She was stoic to the very end, however she also was paid to do the job she did and paid well for it. To me the coverage we have had to endure since Friday amounts to brainwashing or perhaps because I am of the elderly set (which pains me to say), it is elder abuse. Not all people have paid TV or in my case want it and this is all they have had on since Friday."
Rose says: "Way too much, one announcement would have been sufficient. I don't vote for Greens but I support Adam Brandt's effort. He said it all."
And Terry: "The ABC's wall-to-wall coverage of the Queen's death verged on the obsequious. I have never given the Queen more than a two-second thought and it's not unexpected that someone in their 90s would pass away. Given her position, a day of condolences is appropriate but to carry on for several days to the exclusion of everything else is a bit beyond the pale."
Greg reckons it's time Australia grew up: "Having been frustrated - gobsmacked, no less - by the extent of the sycophancy and deification of the person of QEII and the blurring of that person and the past, present and future role of the monarchy, for Australia and Australians, this morning I clarified my position, and my level of irritation dropped. Henceforth, no matter how long this nonsense persists, I will view it in the same category as having endured four years of Trump, however many of Johnson and three of Morrison. We had to have them for enough people to get motivated enough to do enough to get rid of them. Anything that keeps conversations going about the monarchy's role in Australian governance being past its use-by date should be applauded. I believe Australia needs and could benefit from adopting a different model of governance ... and growing up."
Darrell sees the bright side: "I have enjoyed the saturation coverage of the Queen's passing on TV. It's got me off my arse and into the garden."
Trevor's mourning for something else: "Surprised myself ... wept over death of the Queen. Then mourned the next two days over the demise of the ABC. Sickening."
Terry's view: "While I have great respect for women and elderly women in particular, I had little time for QEII as a monarch when she was alive and obviously little since. She had little relevance to me. Come on, the Republic of Oz."
Hilary says: "As always you have summed up perfectly the sentiment of the day. If there was anything to commit us toward a republic it was the 'mourn porn'. I was fascinated by the Oath to the Church of Scotland that was front and centre of the Proclamation proceedings read by Charles. A Google search was warranted. So back in 1707 to ensure that Scotland became part of the United Kingdom this became a required part of the protocol for transition from one Monarch to the next. Interesting history perhaps, but this is where much of the protocol and pomp and ceremony should remain. It really isn't for the multicultural society we have become. How do we transition to a republic when the ABC, which should be reflecting our society, puts on such a show?"
"'Mourn porn' is the perfect way to describe this nonsense. Real news is happening," says Heather. I'd like to claim that one as my own but the hive mind on social media coined it.
Drew says: "Anything that boots Gardening Australia for content running simultaneously on all ABC channels is a potent argument for a republic."
Daniel's worried he's turning: "Well may they say God save the Queen, because nothing will spare us from the British monarchy's manipulative media marketing machine. As an ardent Australian republican, even I am starting to warm to King Charles III."
Frances reckons it was all too much: "The Queen did her job well but the continuous repeating reports and stories should not have gone on past the first 24 hours."
Brent switched off: "I decided early on to avoid seeing any more Queen. But I did get close to also launching a motorcycle boot (I have a licence, no bike at 78), when Lisa Miller "questioned" PM Albanese about constitutional referendums introductions (Voice, and would you believe, republic), with such disdain, I switched her off with disgusted anger. Fortunately, our PM showed his wisdom and statesmanship: 'Now is not the time.'"
Leon's not happy with Aunty: "I did not follow the Royal family. I admired the Queen; I quite like Charles. But the ABC has lost me with its wall-to-wall coverage of the Queen's demise, thereby ignoring real news. News Breakfast is trite enough without this Royal cornucopia of trivia. I do not need all this detailed material, much of which is just cheap filler. Compared with RAI or France TV, the ABC's news coverage has become woeful. I have had enough."
Another Heather managed to dodgethe mourn fest: "I had been saving up Mystery Road: Origin on iView for the right occasion. I binge-watched that excellent series over the weekend, and so avoided the saturation coverage following Queen Elizabeth's death."
Paul, however, is pleased with the saturation: "I've been disappointed by the absence of a 24-hour channel on the death of the Queen and congratulate the ABC on picking up the mantle. So far they have minimised the unedifying spectacle of the monarchists and the republicans squabbling over the inheritance before the funeral service - but I think this will change. Perhaps a few minutes of other news might have been informative - but I think we have been given a good demonstration that much of the news we normally get is confected guff to fill in the bulletins and, mercifully, we have been spared this for a few days."