Australian Citizens Party Citizens Taking Responsibility

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Create a public post office bank!

To address the growing uncertainty over the financial system, in the face of rising inflation and interest rates, the increased risk of a domestic banking crisis because of our banks exposure to the property bubble, the increasing rate of bank branch closures and threat to viability of our postal service, the Citizens Party is spearheading a campaign to establish a public post office bank.

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29 August 2024 - LPO Group supports a Postal Bank - An Australian Postal Bank is gaining momentum with backing from the government! By supporting the Australian Postal Bank, we can secure the future of banking services for all Australians, no matter where they live.

28 August 2024 - The Australian Bridget Carter - Government-owned bank created out of Australia Post back on Labor’s agenda
A government-owned bank created out of Australia Post is understood to be back on the agenda, five years after then-Labor leader Bill Shorten indicated that it would be on the party’s to-do list if elected... Download PDF of article or Read more online (Note: article is behind paywall)

20 June 2024 - 6PR Radio - Oliver Peterson - Australian Citizens Party push for "People’s Bank" - Interview with Robert Barwick LIVE in the Perth Studio - The Australian Citizens Party is warning Australia Post is working to sabotage moves for a so-called “People’s Bank” run through the post office.

20 June 2024 - 6PR Radio - Oliver Peterson - Australian Citizens Party push for "People’s Bank" - Interview with Robert Barwick LIVE in the Perth Studio - The Australian Citizens Party is warning Australia Post is working to sabotage moves for a so-called “People’s Bank” run through the post office.

19 June 2024 - 3AW Radio - Tom Elliott - ‘Bite the bullet’: Tom Elliott’s idea to turn post offices into actual banks - Tom Elliott has given his idea this morning to turn post offices into actual banks, as more and more bank branches close across the country.

19 June 2024 - 3AW Radio - Tom Elliott - Australia Post backbone backs Tom Elliott's idea to turn post offices into actual banks - Interview with Angela Cramp - Executive Director of Licensed Post Office Group (features call in from Robert Barwick 26m - 36m26s

26 May 2024 - ABC Radio - Ian McNamara - Australia All Over

Macca talks to Dale Webster about Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport final report into Regional Bank Branch closures.

24 May 2024 - 6PR Radio - Oliver Peterson - Senate inquiry recommends opening of public banks after wave of closures - Interview with Robert Barwick
A Senate committee has recommended establishing a publicly owned bank and making the Banking Code of Conduct mandatory after the recent wave of bank closures across Australia.

24 May 2024 - PowerFM/ARN Regional SA Radio - Around SA with Chris Guscott - Senate Regional Banking Inquiry Passes Down Sweeping Recommendations


A wide range of sweeping recommendations to regional banking practices has been handed down this afternoon. The Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport has finally released its report into the banks’ actions in regional Australia, with chair Matt Canavan suggesting a huge overhaul to the banks’ responsibilities and obligations in rural and regional areas.

13 May 2024 - 7NEWS Sunshine Coast - Dani Sharp - Commonwealth Bank has announced it's closing its Buderim Branch - Includes interview with Robert Barwick (ACP Research Director).

13 March 2024 - ABC 730 - Rhiannon Shine - Bank branches and ATMs keep closing - Includes coverage of ACP campaign and Robert Barwick (ACP Research Director).

Bank branches and ATMs keep closing. The latest announcement is from BankWest, which will close all its branches in Western Australia by the end of the year as part of a move to digital-only banking.

8 Mar 2023 - 3AW Radio - Tom Elliott - How an Australia Post ‘bank’ could change financial landscape - Interview with Robert Barwick


As part of that effort, the Citizens Party has drafted the Commonwealth Postal Savings Bank Bill, in coordination with Bob Katter MP, to establish a public post office “people's bank” similar to the way the original Commonwealth Bank started in post offices in 1912.

Importantly, the original Commonwealth Bank first proved its value as a public bank in the global financial panic of 1914, when it averted a “run” on all Australian banks by the actions of its Governor, Sir Denison Miller, who announced publicly that the Commonwealth Bank stood behind the deposits in all of the banks; consequently, the feared bank panic didn’t eventuate. (In London, which was the epicentre of the 1914 panic, the Commonwealth Bank’s London office was the only bank to remain open during the emergency.)

Like the Commonwealth Bank then, a new public post office bank will be able to guarantee deposits and provide financial services because it is owned by the government. Put simply, governments are far, far less likely to go bankrupt than private banking corporations are, so customers of public banks can have confidence that their deposits will always be honoured and they will have access to banking services.

Postal Savings Bank
Australia Post
Banking / Finance
Economy / Trade
Page last updated on 23 October 2024

Campaign Updates

12 Sep 2023
Spurred on by bank branch closures, 20 local Councils across Australia have now passed motions endorsing the Australian Citizens Party’s proposal for a national post office People’s Bank, which would save essential postal and banking services for all communities.
  • Postal Savings Bank
7 Feb 2023
Representatives of the Australian Citizens Party are asking politicians to establish an urgent inquiry, declare a moratorium on branch closures, and establish a postal bank. An expanding coalition of Australians is demanding urgent government action to address the crisis in regional banking services.
  • Postal Savings Bank
27 Jul 2022
Australia needs a public (i.e. government-owned) bank, like the original Commonwealth Bank, which served Australia from 1912 to 1996. Since the Commonwealth Bank was privatised, joining the “Big Four” banking oligopoly, the major banks have raked in record profits, while:
  • Postal Savings Bank
18 Jul 2022
Tell your MP this week: Australia needs a post office ‘people’s bank’ Parliament starts on 26 July, and whatever agenda the new government has planned, it will increasingly be overtaken by the cost of living crisis in the economy.
  • Postal Savings Bank
29 Jun 2022
Bank branch closures have cut off hundreds of communities, especially in regional Australia, from essential financial services. There is now a national fightback to save our communities by establishing a public banking alternative to operate through post offices.
  • Postal Savings Bank
25 May 2022
Start contacting your local councils to urge their support for a public post office bank that will guarantee local banking services and force the Big Four banks to compete.
  • Postal Savings Bank
27 Apr 2022
LPO Group’s election call for a post office bank is a solution to the mass-closure of regional bank branches. How will the major parties, especially Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals, respond?
  • Postal Savings Bank
15 Feb 2022
Join the grassroots campaign to recruit all parties to support the Commonwealth Postal Savings Bank Bill.
  • Postal Savings Bank
7 Feb 2022
A postal people’s bank is clearly both in Australia’s national interest, and is the long-term solution for Australia Post.
  • Postal Savings Bank
  • Banking / Finance
9 Dec 2021
A few months out from an election presents a unique opportunity to force real solutions on to the political agenda. In contrast to the divisive policies that the major parties fight over on behalf of their respective vested interests, there are policy solutions that all Australians can recognise would benefit everybody.
  • Postal Savings Bank
  • Australia Post