Australian senate opposes $10,000 ‘cash ban’ bill. The bill proposed by Australian lawmakers to ban the use of cash for purchases of over $10,000 was destroyed by a unanimous Senate vote.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts brought a motion to remove the bill today after more than a year of succinct opposition from a cross section of the society, including cryptocurrency advocates. Many saw it as violating the Australians’ rights and the ability to use cash and maintain the privacy of their transactions. Early draughts of the bill contained digital currencies subject to the proposed restrictions.
Introduced to Federal Parliament in September last year, the bill would have introduced fines of up to $25,000 or jail terms for people or entities that made or accepted payments worth more than five figures. Senator Roberts said the bill would have criminalized the use of legal tender for everyday Australians and claimed that “the bill was never about tackling crime or money laundering.”
“Even the Government’s own Committee Inquiry said that the bill was out of step with Australian values and was totally impractical.”
Even though many hailed the end of the bill as a big win, Nuggets News founder and longstanding opponent, CEO Alex Saunders suggested the battle was only just beginning, “The poorly thought out & rushed attempts to ban cash by the powers that be were met with strong disdain from the people. This time the little guy can won. But no doubt they’ll be back.”
Over 7,000 individuals and business owners signed a petition against the bill before it even reached the federal parliament. Saunders said Nuggets News campaigned against it and a large number of people rang their local politicians to voice their opposition of it.
He said the amount of pushback shows “how passionate people are about freedom of choice, privacy, and money.” This philosophy, he explained, “overlaps heavily with crypto. If crypto was to ever get banned, this shows you how people would protest that both online and in person.”
When the bill was initially introduced, certain drafts included digital currencies in the proposed limits. By mid-July, a memorandum was added that ultimately saw digital currencies being excluded from the bill “There is little current evidence that digital currency is presently being used in Australia to facilitate black economy activities.”
[image: Wallpapercave]
