James leads Australia’s ‘Cash is King’ movement. He says a big change is coming

Exclusive: A surge of Australians could find themselves queueing up at the ATM to withdraw cash after a significant payments reform.

The Reserve Bank’s looming card surcharge ban is tipped to arrive with an unexpected side effect: a revival of banknotes.

From October 1, businesses will be legally prohibited from charging fees for credit card and bank card sales in a move that is expected to save customers an estimated $1.6 billion.

It is widely anticipated that businesses will raise prices instead of wearing the cost themselves.

However, ban comes with a little-known loophole offered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Merchants will be allowed to legally offer discounts for cash payments or alternative methods like PayID.

The prospect of cash making a fresh comeback has the leader of the online “Cash is King” movement, James Bennett, wringing his hands with delight.

“I think people will certainly be quite responsive to it, and we’ll definitely see an increase in cash,” Bennett told nine.com.au.

“We’ve seen a slow increase over the recent 12 to18 months anyway.

“But I think we’ll see a further increase come October. I’m looking forward to it.”

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Businesses large and small already offer cash-only discounts for patrons.

Bennett and his fellow Cash is King supporters expect there will be a sudden uplift in merchants offering discounts or perks for cash-only payments.

“I hope it happens,” he said.

“I want to see more people using cash. Small businesses love cash, and I think we’ll certainly see more signs up.”

Bennett launched the Cash is King Facebook page nearly three years ago after becoming “frustrated” with the vanishing cash economy in Australia.

There are now over 187,000 members of the private group and dozens of new members request to join every day.

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Supporters regularly share photos of restaurants, cafes and retailers who prefer cash.

Bennett said the growth has been “phenomenal”.

“There’s so many people out there that fear losing cash and want to make sure it’s still part of their everyday life,” he said.

“One of the key points for me was when we had an outage, and we couldn’t use cards… we couldn’t use anything, and there was no other way of paying, other than cash.”

But the Cash is King movement – while attracting some members with a conspiratorial bent – is not anti-eftpos.

Instead, Bennett said it is all about the freedom to choose.

“The key factor is having a choice to use both, the fear of cash being taken away as an option has encouraged people to increase their usage of cash,” he added.

Economists also expect business owners and customers to take advantage of the ACCC’s cash discount concession.

Swinburne’s payment systems expert Professor Steve Worthington said the tide may turn and eftpos payments could play second fiddle to cold hard cash.

“This could ultimately see businesses and consumers rethink how they pay,” Worthington said.

“This could be appealing to those businesses who already accept cash as a payment, and it could re-energise the demand for cash from consumers who are seeking to contain their cost of living.”

While cash use has declined in recent years, pro-cash advocates have been pushing for laws to stop businesses from refusing legal tender.

A federal cash mandate introduced in 2026 requires major grocery and fuel retailers to accept cash under specific conditions, enforceable only for transactions of $500 or less.

The movement also rallied behind a national “Cash Out Day” in April, a grassroots campaign that encouraged Australians to visit their local ATM and withdraw money.

Data released that same month by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) showed the number of cash payments had risen to 15 per cent, and that half of all Aussies use cash at least once a week.