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Community leaders and residents in north-west Queensland have been left outraged after Westpac announced it was closing its Cloncurry bank branch.
Key points:
- Residents in the north-west Queensland town of Cloncurry have launched a petition to block the closure of a Westpac branch
- If the branch closes, locals fear the impact on businesses and events vital to the town's economy
- Westpac has cited low foot traffic as the reason for shutting its doors
Last Friday, Westpac informed the Cloncurry Shire Council via email that its branch, which opened in 1905, would be closing on May 19.
It means there will be just one bank branch left in Cloncurry, the National Australia Bank, to service a town of nearly 4,000 people.
The Cloncurry Shire Council has launched a petition to block the branch closure and is set to hold talks with a government relations representative.
Cloncurry Shire Mayor Greg Campbell said the closure was "an act of complete disrespect" to rural mining and farming communities like Cloncurry that were growing in population and contributed billions of dollars to the Queensland economy.
"Our greatest fear is that this decision will give other vital services the precedent to withdraw more services from Cloncurry and regional Queensland," he said.
Branches 'vital' to survival of outback towns
Many rural towns rely on the yearly tourist season to sustain their economies.
Janessa Bidgood is the president of the Cloncurry Merry Muster rodeo festival, which draws thousands of visitors to the small town each year.
Without a bricks-and-mortar bank branch, running events became difficult, she said.
"It is vital for us to have a physical branch based in the town," Ms Bidgood said.
"We can't operate our event without cash. And if there's no bank here, I don't know where we would go for all those resources we need to run an event.
"I guess someone would have to travel the 300 kilometre round-trip to Mount Isa to do our banking and access our floats and cash."
Long-term local and well-known grazier Sam Daniels has been using Westpac in Cloncurry for 60 years.
"It's no small amount of money coming through Westpac in Cloncurry, they would be dealing with clientele from the grazing properties that make up over 20 million acres of country in the north-west here," he said.
"And it's not just that, it's all the community groups that bank, there's all the sports clubs, the rodeos, the festivals, all the people that volunteer to run those events lean on Westpac to get floats and be able to bank some substantial amount of money through the week … we're going to lose all that."
Mr Campbell called on the government to act.
"It needs to be part of a bank's social obligation to have a presence in rural Queensland.
"There's universal service obligations for telecommunications, infrastructure, post, why does the banking industry choose to walk away?"
Foot traffic blamed for closure
Westpac has cited low foot traffic as one of the main reasons for shutting its doors.
Mr Campbell said the bank could do more to stay in the community.
"That just doesn't cut it," he said.
"The branch itself is as financially strong as ever, if not stronger. Yes, banking methods have moved toward the online space but that is because Westpac has been pushing that.
"Instead of walking away, do a better job for the community."
In a statement to the ABC, a Westpac spokesperson said the bank was investing in its digital services.
"There have never been more ways to bank with the Westpac Group, and customers can expect the same great service through telephone, online, mobile, and virtual banking."