Commonwealth Bank hit with tidal wave of outrage over 'Christmas tax'

Commonwealth Bank's decision to slug fees on customers making withdrawals has unleashed a tidal wave of widespread fury from politicians, media figures and ordinary Aussies.

The bank will abolish its 'Complete Access Account' and replacing it with a 'Smart Access Account' that will have a $3 fee tacked onto every withdrawal from a branch, a post office or phone, starting January 6.

Assistant treasurer and financial services minister Stephen Jones branded the move a 'slap in the face' for loyal customers and the 'worst Christmas present imaginable'.

'Commonwealth Bank has to rethink this terrible decision,' he said. 

'This seems to be to a tax on Australians who demand the right to use their cash. And the government won't stand for it. 

'We're working for Australians to ensure they can continue to use cash if they so choose.' 

North Queensland-based federal MP Bob Katter described the new charge as 'an act defiance and contempt for the people of Australia'.

He said the bank was 'counterattacking' against the recent announcement that businesses selling essential goods and services such as groceries, medicines and fuel will be forced to accept cash from their customers unless granted a special exemption the start of 2026. 

Mr Katter told Channel 10's The Project on Tuesday night that he hasn't had a 'good relationship with banks over the years' and doesn't want to need their permission to get a loaf of bread. 

He said the first thought that flashed into his head was the fee resembled the way Indigenous people were once treated in Queensland. 

'If you were a black fellow Australian, instead of a white fellow Australian, then you had your wages paid into a government account,' he said.

'And the only way you could access your money was to go and see the local policeman and give him the reasons why you wanted that money taken out so that you could use.'

Panelist Hamish Macdonald asked Mr Katter why he thought the fee was a move to control people who just used cards to buy things.  

'You can use that card because the bank gives you permission to use that card,' Mr Katter replied

If the bank says no, you can't use that card, then you can't go to another the bank because they send the records, you over to them.

'So ,it is on the records of every bank in Australia that we don't like you, you speak badly about banks and you've been a naughty boy sometimes, so we're not going to allow you to use the bank account. Well, if you can't do that, you can't buy a load of bread.

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Sydney radio station 2GB drive host Chris 'O'Keefe was even more scathing, labelling the cash grab as 'beyond obscene'. 

'Charging a fee to access our own money is nothing more than a grubby little money grab,' he said.

'How much blood do they want from us?'

He could scarcely contain his disbelief at the bank's claim the move 'is all part of our effort to give Australians the best banking experience'. 

'They have got to be joking,' O'Keefe said.

 'Are these people for real?'

O'Keefe said customers assessing cash costs the financial giant about $400 million a year but noted the bank made a whopping profit of almost $10billion last financial year after tax.

'This is all about boosting the bottom line,' O'Keefe said.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that it 'continues to offer customers free cash withdrawals from our national ATM network'.

They added that it would continue 'to offer waivers on assisted withdrawal fees for customers who meet certain criteria including certain types of pension recipients, those who deposit $2,000 a month, and those aged under-18.

'Our Streamline Basic account has no monthly account fees or assisted withdrawal fees and is available to customers who hold an eligible concession card.'

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O'Keefe was worried 'about the most disadvantaged in the community because that is who the Commonwealth Bank is targeting'.

'Think about the elderly, the disabled or people living in rural areas where access to an ATM and digital banking is nigh on impossible, he said noting that these difficulties were created by the bank,' he said.

'Going into a branch might be the only way these people pay their bills for the week and now they are going to be charged $3 for the privilege.

O'Keefe pointed to the Commonwealth's policy statement around accessibility and inclusion.

The bank's website says it aims to create 'inclusive products, services, experiences and workplaces that provide equitable access and dignity for all our customers, people and communities'. 

'We call this "dignity by design",' the website states.

'Where is the dignity in charging , I'll ask the CEO Matt Comyn, $3 for a disabled person who can't use an ATM, a blind person, a pensioner a homeless person waiting on their payments to drop, where is the dignity in that?' O'Keefe asked.

He called the move 'greedy as all buggery'.

"This fee is wrong, morally, ethically, financially. Wrong, wrong, wrong,' he said.

Social media users were equally outraged with some threatening to quit the bank.

'Absolute f****n disgrace as a 55 yr state savings bank / commonwealth bank customer. Will seriously consider changes banks,' an X user tweeted on Tuesday.

'If the Commonwealth Bank impose a fee, decided by them, to access my own money how is that not extortion? …and that's why you don't bank with the Commonwealth Bank.'

Some argued it was a good reason to take the Commonwealth back in public hands, with the institution being sold off under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments in the early to mid 1990s.  

'Renationalise the Commonwealth Bank,' an X user wrote.

'It should never have been privatised in the first place.

'Our politicians are criminals for selling off once publicly owned assets such as this bank, Telstra, the energy sector and more.

'Because of this we are being bleed dry,'

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