ADM+S research informs Senate report on Bank Closures in Regional Australia
Author ADM+S Centre
Date 30 May 2024
On Friday 24 May 2024 the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee delivered its final report on Bank closures in regional Australia, citing the ADM+S submission, as well as evidence provided by Centre Director Prof Julian Thomas.
The enquiry addresses the current extent of bank closures in regional Australia, including reasons for closure, economic and welfare impacts on communities, the effectiveness of government banking statistics capturing and reporting regional service levels, and consideration of solutions.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society’s submission to the enquiry detailed findings from two key programs at the Centre, the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) and the Mapping the Digital Gap project.
The submission is referenced throughout the Committee report referring to issues around digital connectivity; scams and fraud; and impacts on older Australians as well as service access issues in remote communities and the pace of closures and the digital divide.
The report also includes quotes from Centre Director Prof Julian Thomas, who provided evidence to the Enquiry at a public hearing in February 2024.
In the report, Prof Thomas is quoted, “as our society and economy transitions more to digital services, those who are somewhat behind can fall further behind very quickly.
“That’s really the difficulty, that what would have been an adequate internet service 10 or 15 years ago is no longer really sufficient for the provision of the sorts of digital services which governments and organisations like banks are now providing.
“It’s that moving target problem which is the issue here.”
View the full report.
