JENI O’DOWD: We are paying the price for the Albanese Government’s inaction on bank card surcharges

Australians are being quietly taxed by delay. Not through legislation or budgets, but through a Government that announces reform, outsources responsibility and then just waits while the cost continues to land on ordinary people.

Debit card surcharges have been declared unfair by the Treasurer and outdated by bank chiefs. Yet in 2026, we are still paying to access our own money, one tap at a time.

I was at my local chicken shop the other day, where a sign by the register asked customers to “please support our small business by paying cash.”

Fair enough. But if I don’t, I cop a surcharge for using my debit card. So I could get cash, except the nearest free ATM closed months ago.

The only ones left charge a $3 withdrawal fee because all the big banks have closed branches across the suburbs.

So now I’m paying to take out the money I already earned, just so that I don’t pay more to spend it.

Can it get anymore convoluted?

Like millions of Australians, I end up paying at least 10 cents or more every time I tap. It’s not an isolated case. Sushi bars, coffee shops, dry cleaners. It’s the same everywhere. And in a cost-of-living crisis that feels like a slow bleed, every cent matters.

Large businesses such as supermarkets often absorb these fees as part of doing business.

Smaller operators don’t have that luxury, so they pass on what the banks charge them.

In August 2024 (yes, nearly two years ago), one of the bosses of the big four banks, National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Irvine, described card payment surcharges as outdated and outrageous.

Speaking to a parliamentary standing committee, he said surcharges might have made sense two decades ago when card payments were rare, and cash dominated everyday transactions.

In today’s economy, where nearly every transaction is digital, he argued the practice no longer stacks up.

In October 2024, the government promised to ban debit card surcharges from January 1, 2026, pending a Reserve Bank review and consultation which is still underway. Why are we still waiting?

“Consumers shouldn’t be punished for using cards or digital payments, and at the same time, small businesses shouldn’t have to pay hefty fees just to get paid themselves,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said at the time.

This is classic slow-walk political reform. Announce the intention, outsource the detail, nominate a future date and hope the anger dissipates. Cats bury things better than this, and they at least have the decency to look guilty.

Sadly, it’s something we have come to expect from the Albanese Government.

It’s still a proposal. Nothing’s law. Nothing’s in effect. Merchants still slap on fees, and banks still collect their cut from businesses that then pass it on to us. The whole thing hangs in the air like an insurance premium that never quite goes down.

The banks remain happy to advertise “tap and go” as if that’s some privilege, while the rest of us are fined for doing precisely that.

This isn’t just about a takeaway hot chook or a flat white. It’s about a financial system that feels rigged against ordinary people. We’re told we’re moving towards a cashless society, but that innovation has come with a hidden toll on every transaction.

The government’s promise to ban surcharges is not a solution until Australians stop getting dinged at every register.

When both the Treasurer and a major bank boss agree this system is ridiculous, we shouldn’t still be waiting while politicians point to consultations and reviews.

If everyone agrees it’s wrong, fix it. This isn’t a complicated policy. It’s political will.

And until that changes, Australians will keep paying for a problem the Government has already admitted shouldn’t exist.