Documents relating to the analysis of costs and benefits to the Australian economy of criminalising the use of physical currency to conduct economic transactions over $10,000

Richard Smith made this Freedom of Information request to Department of the Treasury

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Dear Department of the Treasury,

Earlier this year, proposed legislation was tabled with the express purpose to severely curtail the freedom of Australian citizens to undertake financial transactions using physical legal tender.

The proposed legislation, the Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019, has the effect of criminalising the act of making a transaction in cash over the threshold value of $10,000.

This Bill would severely curtail a freedom currently enjoyed by Australian citizens, and instead convert the act into a criminal offence, namely the ability to pay for goods and services in cash.

This current freedom to use cash has strong advantages in terms of personal privacy, which is particularly beneficial as we consider the mounting number of cases of breaches of security of electronic databases and transaction records, intentional or otherwise, which have resulted in private and very personal details of citizens being compromised.

A reduction in freedoms enjoyed by Australian citizens by the Government should be a matter of the most serious consideration, where the benefits of such a reduction in freedoms should vastly outweigh the grave cost, i.e. a permanent reduction in freedoms and increased use of alternative methods of payment leading to higher vulnerability of personal data.

Accordingly, I hereby request the following Government Information documents which I consider to be of great public importance:

a) Documents provided to the Treasury detailing the analysis of the costs and benefits to the Australian economy of banning Australians using physical currency to conduct economic transactions over $10,000;

b) Documents produced by or commissioned on behalf of the Treasury detailing the analysis of the costs and benefits to the Australian economy of banning Australians using physical currency to conduct economic transactions over $10,000; and

c) Documents produced by or commissioned on behalf of the Treasury providing advice to any Government Minister or Minister's staff detailing the analysis of the costs and benefits to the Australian economy of banning Australians using physical currency to conduct economic transactions over $10,000.

Scope of request is on impact to Economy, not Commonwealth Taxation revenue

For clarity, any document which contains any discussion or forecast regarding solely increased government taxation revenue does not fall within the scope of my request.

I am not seeking documents or information in regards to the "Black Economy" taskforce regarding taxation revenue.

I am seeking documents describing information regarding analysis of economic impacts to the entire economy.

If this can be answered as informal request, please do so.

Otherwise, please proceed with this as a formal request under the Freedom of Information principles & framework, i.e. the Freedom of Information Act 1982 & other associated guidelines and regulations.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Smith

We write to acknowledge receipt of your request, under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

Your request was received by the Treasury on 7 October 2019. The FOI Act provides that we have 30 days to process the request. This period may be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.

We will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the amount of any such charge as soon as possible.

We make the following assumptions that affect the scope of the request. These are set out below.

It is our usual practice:
• not to disclose the personal information of government employees or the personal contact details of senior government employees (including those of the Treasury). The names of senior officers will generally be released.
• not to release duplicates of any document captured within the scope of the request.
• only the final version of a document will be considered within scope.

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Kind regards

Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [email address]

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Smith <[FOI #5698 email]>
Sent: Monday, 7 October 2019 5:32 PM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Documents relating to the analysis of costs and benefits to the Australian economy of criminalising the use of physical currency to conduct economic transactions over $10,000