As the West Coast stares down the loss of its last dedicated physical bank branch, a One Nation senator has taken the fight to federal parliament.
Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts is demanding urgent action from the federal government over ongoing regional bank closures.
Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday night, Roberts warned of the impact Bendigo Bank’s Queenstown branch closure will have when it shuts its doors in September.
“This is not only the last bank in town. It’s the last bank on the entire West Coast of Tasmania,” Roberts said.
“The locals will have no choice and will be forced to drive two and a half hours over icy mountain roads to the next closest bank in Burnie.”
The issue was raised after the West Coast Council passed a unanimous motion on Tuesday, calling on the federal government to respond to a long-awaited Senate inquiry into regional banking.
Roberts said he was “having to raise” it because Tasmania’s senators, whether Liberal, Labor or independent, had “ignored” the issue.
“The government was supposed to respond within 90 days. It’s been 14 months and the government has simply ignored it,” Roberts said.
“There’s no doubt that, had the government responded to the report and its powerful recommendations, it’s unlikely Bendigo Bank would be closing these branches.”
The Queenstown closure is part of a wider move by Bendigo Bank to shut 10 branches and 28 agencies across the country.
“There’s a fair bit of an outcry. We’re just trying to get politicians to do what they were asked to do by the Senate with that inquiry,” West Coast Mayor Shane Pitt said.
The council has sent its motion to all Tasmanian MPs, as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino.
“I think this needs a little bit more traction from higher up than just our own state,” Pitt said.
