Opening statement on financial services provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Senior counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr QC is giving her opening address on this new topic.

Rowena Orr QC

Almost one-in-five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in remote or very remote areas compared to about one-in-100 amongst the general population.

Ms Orr says this makes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people vulnerable to the financial exclusion associated with living in remote areas.

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She says branch closures are a major issue in remote areas.

People in remote areas may end up paying relatively high transaction costs to access funds, particularly through ATM fees. This could be due to having only one fee-charging ATM in town or the need to make multiple withdrawals to access larger sums of money in the absence of a bank branch.

Ms Orr says the internet offers an alternative avenue to access financial services, however many communities have poor or non-existent internet access.

She also points out that it can be very difficult for many Indigenous people in remote communities to provide suitable identification documents to open financial accounts.