Cheques will be phased-out in Australia by 2030.
The use of cheques as a payment method has dropped by 90 percent in the last decade, and the government says it will soon get rid of them permanently.
There will be a seven-year transition, so people and businesses who rely on the use of cheques will have time to find other options.
During a speech at an Australian Banking Association conference, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said nearly all cheques can be replaced with online banking and other cashless transactions.
“We want to systematically transition these transactions to digital,” said Mr Chalmers.
But, Ian Henschke from National Seniors Australia, believes the changes will be unfair to people who might struggle using the internet.
Australian Payments Network CEO, Andy White thinks eliminating cheques is a reasonable idea.
“If you look at what other countries have done – South Africa and New Zealand for example – they’ve actually closed their cheque system within a year of announcement, so this is a much more gradual wind-down of cheques, which today only account for 0.1 percent of consumer payments,” said Mr White.
The government is also putting forward a raft of other changes, in a move it says, will improve efficiency and modernise the nation’s payments system.
Cash is currently being used for just 13 percent of payments – down from 70 percent 16 years ago.
The Australian Bankers Association says 98.9 percent of all bank interactions now take place digitally.
Jim Chalmers will travel to New Zealand on Wednesday evening to meet with his Kiwi counterpart, where they will discuss climate policy and economic unity between the two countries.
