CQ Council endorses idea for national bank

A Central Queensland council has endorsed a proposal which it hopes will bring better banking services to their communities.

Many rural towns in Central Queensland have suffered from the loss of their bank branches and some have even been left without ATMs.

The Banana Shire Council meeting on July 28 discussed the idea of a Postal Savings Bank, which would allow residents to access banking and financial services from post offices.

Mayor Nev Ferrier brought up the recent scandals around Australia Post, however was supportive of the idea of a postal savings bank that would be backed by the federal government.

“There’s nothing wrong with passing this on and being part of it,” he said.

Councillor Judy Pender said banks used to have branches in Theodore, Moura and Baralaba and although these towns were moving towards a cashless society, there were no more in-person banking services.

“There’s not even ATMs in some of these places,” she said.

Mrs Pender said she would have thought ATMs could go in post offices.

“I agree with it, I think it's a good idea,” she said.

The councillors voted in favour of resolving that, the closures of bank branches had reduced access to services in communities, access to banking services between the banks and Australia Post did not offer long-term security, and the council officially supported the federal government establishing a Commonwealth Postal Savings Bank.

This motion was originally brought to the council after the Australian Citizens Party approached the council for support of the postal savings bank.