Dale Webster, The Regional

There are fatal flaws in the Federal Government’s draft cash mandate regulations and they can be traced back to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's refusal to respond to Senate recommendations to fix the banking crisis in regional Australia.

Bendigo Bank torches regional development with selective blacklist based on mining. Just like the fictional Tasmanian town of Mystery Bay, a star in its own right in the hit ABC TV series Bay of Fires, Queenstown, where much of the show was filmed, is being held back by mysterious forces. Locals have suspected for some time that the town was a “no-go” area for home lending but like many other disadvantages they face due to remoteness, it was believed geography was the likely cause.

Bendigo Bank closed its last remaining banking service in an Aboriginal community 27 days before celebrating the launch of its Aboriginal Reconciliation Action Plan. The Aurukun agency in far north Queensland was one of 27 to be closed in 2022-2023 under the eye of the bank’s now chief executive Richard Fennell when he was in charge of the consumer banking division.

Bendigo Bank has pulled out of fundraising partnerships with community groups that have been drumming up business for corporate branches since 2004 ... The bank told community groups however, that it had reviewed this part of its business and determined the contributions were “not sustainable” ... Bendigo Bank has announced a $514.6 million profit.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has continued its assault on its community bank network, forcing the closure of 28 agencies run by community franchises. All the agencies are in regional Australia and 17 of the affected towns will be left with no banking services after the closures. Bendigo Bank made no mention that the agencies were all operated by the owners of community banks when making the announcement last week that it was “retiring” its agency network.

Bendigo Bank has hit the headlines for closing 10 branches shortly followed by an announcement it was getting rid of all of its regional agencies but there are another 90-odd Bendigo-branded banks that have been shut over the past five years it has managed to keep quiet. Many of these were community franchises that have been disappearing in the dozens, with both regional and metropolitan areas impacted.

With the announcement that Bendigo Bank is closing two* of its regional branches at Yarram and Korumburra this week, it’s time to again call bull#%*t on the claims this corporation makes about the size of its branch network ... in deciding to close two of its 75 corporate branches across regional Australia, Bendigo Bank has not selected sites in locations that are well serviced by banks, it is pulling out of towns that rely on it as the only bank left.

One of the most important Federal Government inquiries into welfare issues specific to regional Australia in decades handed down its final report a year ago this week ... the recommendations are still languishing in a no-man’s-land of neither being accepted or rejected.

Through the Bendigo Showgrounds Master Plan, the biggest and most active user group that sits hand-in-glove with the Bendigo Agricultural Show Society’s primary reason for existence has been absolutely and unceremoniously shafted.

State Government Sports infrastructure funding is being used to build a shed that was always intended to house produce stall holders and retail market activities at the Bendigo showgrounds, a planning document from 2019 has confirmed. The market shed is being built instead of a proposed multi-purpose sports pavilion that was to include changerooms, a function room, umpire rooms, toilets and kiosk on the opposite side of the arena in the equestrian precinct.