OPTUS Outage Confirms Cash Is King

Governments must protect cash

BRN Submission - November 2023 - re: OPTUS Network Outage Inquiry

BRN welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. Our submission concerns other related matters – possibly the most important matter. The OPTUS outage is not simply a corporate failure to provide an essential service due to unforeseeable technical failure. The disaster of 10 million Australians being unable to purchase food and other goods or services for the bulk of the day is in large part a failure of government.

We live and work in a market economy. There is no problem with that - markets usually work very well as a resource allocation mechanism. The problem is that often the people we depend on in those markets fail. That is why we don’t have free, unrestrained, laissez-faire markets. Often people at the top of corporations have issues – greed and psychopathy are two worrying ones that come to mind but you could also factor in foolishness and incompetence at multiple levels of an organisation. This is why a competent, honest, and effective government does have a legitimate role – in fact a critical role - in the business sphere. Particularly in businesses that provide essential services. People expect a regulatory environment that will discourage market participants from engaging in fraud, force, and coercion …. as well as related deceptive and exploitative conduct. People expect that there will be systems in place to protect essential services from various threats. People also demand that their personal data – used and held by corporations – will be protected and used appropriately.

To aid the provision of essential services governments often assist corporations in various ways – tax breaks, guarantees, subsidies etc. This assistance comes at taxpayers’ expense. Therefore it is not unreasonable for the government to lay down some conditions which see the corporations have an obligation to run their operations in a way that gives some benefits or payback to the citizens and the country.

Why was half a day without phone and internet services so dangerous, inconvenient, and costly? Well not being able to make and receive phone calls was pretty bad. Not being able to surf the internet and catch up with Facebook or X was terrible. But the big one … the billion dollar elephant in the corner of the supermarket was the inability of people to access their money – their credit – their internet banking. People were unable to shop. Businesses were unable to accept payments. Many were forced to close and lose a day’s income.

The wider use of cash would have seen this element of the outage diminished to a large extent.

This is where government failure becomes apparent. In a properly functioning genuine Liberal democracy politicians and governments are supposed to work in the people’s and country’s interests.

The key issue is that the use of cash is being phased out right under the noses of our politicians. The politicians either have no clue about the significance of this or they are actively assisting the banks in this attack on people’s rights and freedoms.

People are having their lives and businesses disrupted in very significant ways simply to suit the interests of bankers and powerful international interests.

Banks want to accelerate the closing of branches, further reduce ATM access, and bring about the end of cash for several reasons. A big one is to lock people into a system where banks get a cut of every single transaction made in the country – 24/7/365. Transaction fees will of course rise when people don’t have the cash alternative.

Bankers say that people want the convenience of paying with cards and phones. They don’t mention that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and other NGOs such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) are pushing Digital IDs and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as a way to exploit and control populations. This agenda requires the abolition of cash.

Banks are closing branches as part of a worldwide push to force populations into a cashless society. This has been well documented over many years in IMF and BIS publications. For example – BIS head Agustin Carstens talks about CBDC and control >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpNnTuK5JJU

In 2019 Australian politicians failed to implement the globalist push to ban the use of cash for large transactions. The government’s “Cash Ban Bill” aimed to fine and jail people for using their own money. BRN and other concerned groups such as the Australian Citizens Party – along with Martin North and John Adams mounted a grassroots campaign to stop this attack on core rights. People joined together and loudly made clear that this was a line not to be crossed. People power won that battle but the war continued. When the Morrison government failed, the banks colluded and took over to push the agenda regardless. Our government has constitutional authority regarding the supply of money and our currency. How is it that the Albanese government is allowing the banks to change our medium of exchange in a way that will significantly disadvantage Australians in the medium to long term? Has anyone even heard a major party politician discuss this issue?

Actually, the government has form on this. Disadvantaging Australians by serving global interests seems to be a core aim of government – particularly in recent years. How else can one explain the government deliberately increasing house prices, rents, and thus homelessness? Most people think it is madness to bring in well over 400,000 new residents each year. It also makes no sense to allow foreigners to purchase Australian property. Doesn’t Albanese know that Australians can’t compete in the housing market under these conditions? Many foreigners are using the Australian property market as a safe and welcome money laundering base. Banks, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, and property developers all play a role in this operation. Did Australians vote for this?

As mentioned above - banks get significant taxpayer support. Now is the time for our government to insist that the banks make good on their mutual obligation. It’s pay up time! Others too must step up to assist in the reduction of the technological risks our country faces.

The OPTUS outage has made the case very well - there are myriad ways our internet and electrical services are at risk. It is not just technical errors or incompetence. We must be aware that our critical infrastructure is a target of criminals and various foreign agents. Natural disasters such as fires and floods can also bring about similar outages. Australia’s telecommunications system is also at risk from the geopolitical machinations of psychopaths who have no qualms about using cyber warfare to cripple essential services.

All of these threats can lead to an inability to make digital / electronic financial transactions. The more serious the failure the more prolonged will be the disruption. What happens if an outage lasts for days rather than hours? Just imagine if the globalist manipulators succeed in removing cash altogether. Cash must remain a fundamental and protected part of our economy. The proper provision of this will simply be a “cost of doing business” for banks. Corporations can always make bigger profits via exploitation and market manipulation – hence the need for well thought out laws and regulations.

This is what needs to be done to reinforce the ability for financial transactions to continue no matter what happens to digital infrastructure:

Thank you for your interest and time on this important issue.
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More information about the war on cash at link below - we highlighted this in 2016. It's even more relevant now. Central Bank Digital Currencies are the last nail in the coffin regarding your freedom.

Your ability to protest about these issues is also under attack - see link below about the Albanese government's Misinformation Bill.

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