‘Back to the Stone Age’: Blackouts Show Why Cash Is King in Australia
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When the lights suddenly go out, it’s not just your TV and kettle that stop working – it’s also your plastic money. Recent power outages across Australia have left thousands of people unable to pay for groceries or fuel, as EFTPOS machines blink off and ATMs go dark. In those moments, many Aussies have discovered what our grandparents always knew: cash is king when the power’s out.
This entertaining (and eye-opening) editorial dives into why having a stash of physical cash can be a lifesaver during electricity outages. From Queensland cyclones and Victorian storms to big telecom outages, we’ll explore how going cashless can leave you high and dry when the grid goes down. We’ll also hear from experts and emergency officials on the importance of keeping some good old-fashioned banknotes handy – and share a few humorous anecdotes (remember the days of candlelight and coin purses?).
So, brew a cuppa (if the power’s still on!) and read on. This is a must-read for anyone who’s ever fumbled for coins during a blackout – especially our savvy seniors who’ve seen it all before.
Blackouts Leave Aussies Scrambling – No Power, No PayWave
Electricity outages aren’t just inconvenient – they can bring whole communities to a standstill. Take the recent example of Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March 2025. When Alfred barrelled through South-East Queensland, it knocked out power for more than 300,000 homes and businesses, with some areas warned to expect days-long outages. In scenes that felt straight out of last century, modern cashless payment systems collapsed along with the electricity. ATMs stopped working, EFTPOS terminals went offline, and digital wallets on phones were suddenly useless.In fact, authorities had urged those in Alfred’s path to prepare for this exact scenario. Before the cyclone hit, emergency services warned residents to stock up on essentials and have some cash on hand. As one local news outlet put it, “People should prepare for the likelihood of extended power outages if Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall”. Many took heed – banks in Queensland actually began stocking ATMs with extra cash and deploying mobile “bank branches in a box” so people could withdraw money even if brick-and-mortar banks were shut. The big four banks anticipated a surge in demand for physical cash if Alfred knocked out electronic payment systems, and they weren’t going to be caught unprepared.
Queenslanders weren’t the only ones learning this lesson. Down south, Victoria has been hit by massive storm-related blackouts in recent times. In February 2024, a catastrophic storm swept through Victoria and over half a million customers lost power at its peak. Some communities spent days in the dark as fallen trees and damaged power lines cut off entire towns. The Victorian government even had to offer emergency “power outage payments” to households that went a week or more with no electricity. And while the government can compensate lost power to an extent, it can’t magically turn on an EFTPOS machine in a blackout. In these Victorian outages, many shops could only accept cash – if they managed to open at all. Shoppers who had a few $20s tucked in their wallet could still buy bread and batteries; those with only cards or phone payments were often out of luck.
Shortly after a June 2024 storm, one Woolworths supermarket in Sebastopol, VIC had its EFTPOS down for two full days, forcing the store to put up a big handwritten sign at the entrance: “Cash only, no EFTPOS. Sorry.”. Two staff members stood at the door directing customers to the nearest ATMs to withdraw paper money before shopping. It was a scene straight out of the 1980s, but it happened in 2024! The frustrated (but prepared) shoppers who still carry cash managed to get their groceries. Others had to dash down the street hoping the ATM still had cash to dispense. (In one small Victorian town, Koo Wee Rup, locals reported that during a similar outage “all the ATMs in town ran out of cash” as everyone rushed to withdraw at once. Good luck getting money out when even the ATM is tapped dry.)
A handwritten sign taped to a Woolworths entrance in Victoria reads “CASH ONLY – NO EFTPOS – sorry,” after an outage knocked out electronic payments. Shops resort to old-school methods when the power or internet fails, highlighting why having cash in your wallet matters in a blackout.
Even routine power hiccups can wreak havoc if you’re caught without cash. In May 2021, a fire and explosion at Queensland’s Callide power station triggered the state’s worst blackout in decades, cutting electricity to some 470,000 customers from Brisbane up to far north towns. Shopping centres went dark, traffic lights died, trains stopped – and of course, electronic payment systems in countless businesses went offline. While power was restored to many within hours, imagine being in the supermarket checkout line at that moment. The register suddenly reboots, the EFTPOS terminal won’t connect, and you have a trolley full of melting frozen veggies. If you had some cash, maybe the staff could tally your total on paper and take your money (yes, this actually happens). If you didn’t… well, dinner might have been whatever canned food you already had at home.
Image source: Seniors Discount Club
Digital Dependency – A Cashless Society’s Achilles Heel
These incidents underscore a stark truth: our increasingly cashless society has a serious Achilles heel – its utter reliance on electricity and the internet. When those critical systems fail, digital payments can grind to a halt. No power = no PayWave. We’ve seen it time and again:- Power grid failures: A lightning storm, cyclone or heatwave knocks out power, and suddenly “cash only” signs pop up everywhere from petrol stations to pharmacies. Electronic tills and card readers won’t work without electricity. In big disasters, even backup generators can run out of fuel, prolonging the pain.
- Internet/network outages: Sometimes the lights stay on, but the network goes down. Remember the nationwide Optus outage in November 2023? A technical glitch took out Optus’s mobile and broadband network for an entire day, cutting off service to over 10 million customers. Businesses that used Optus for their EFTPOS or Wi-Fi were basically left stranded. One Sydney café owner described the scene: his EFTPOS machine and internet were dead, so “customers cannot pay their bills… people are back to the Stone Age, coins only.” He said 95% of his customers normally pay by card, so without cash he had virtually no trade – he was on the verge of closing the café for the day. That outage also stalled Melbourne’s trains and caused nationwide frustration, all because our “modern” systems had a day off. Stone Age, indeed.
- Software glitches and cyber mishaps: You don’t even need a storm or fire for things to fall apart. In July 2024, a buggy software update from a US tech firm (CrowdStrike) caused a global IT outage that hit Australia hard. Major banks, supermarkets, airlines and even news outlets suddenly found their computers crashing. Many shops couldn’t process card payments at all. As one report noted, businesses that “couldn’t accept cash as an alternative payment had to shut down entirely”. Think about that – some stores literally closed their doors because they had no way to take your money unless it was digital. The outage, which turned screens blue worldwide, highlighted the dangers of putting all our eggs in the electronic basket. Pro-cash campaigners argue (and with good reason) that these events underline the risk of moving to a fully cashless world.
- Telecom failures: Beyond Optus, even the mighty Telstra has had outages in the past that knocked out ATMs and EFTPOS for thousands of businesses. These incidents have affected supermarket checkout systems, bank operations, and B2B transactions, costing the economy millions of dollars and inconveniencing millions of people. Australia’s Reserve Bank (RBA) observed in 2024 that online banking and fast payment services are most vulnerable to outages, often due to third-party or software issues, and warned that “effective management of operational risk in the payments system has never been more important.” In plain English: we better have a Plan B for when the tech goes belly-up.
Here in Australia, seniors and consumer advocates have been raising similar concerns. NSA (which has a “Keep Cash” campaign) points out that a significant number of Australians – particularly seniors – still rely on cash for daily transactions. They caution that a push toward a totally cashless economy risks stranding these people, especially in emergencies. NSA CEO Chris Grice recently remarked, “While we acknowledge the inevitability of a mostly digital society, it’s important to consider the needs of those who rely on cash, particularly seniors.” In other words, going digital is fine – until it isn’t. And it’s often older Australians, rural communities, or low-income families (who might not have smartphones or consistent internet) that get hit hardest when cards and apps stop working.
Even the federal government is taking note. After a string of outages and amid concerns about excluding vulnerable groups, the Australian Government moved to mandate that essential businesses continue accepting cash. In November 2024, the Assistant Treasurer announced plans for new rules requiring retailers of essential goods – think supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies – to take cash as payment, at least for transactions under $100 (this was under consultation, with a proposed start date of 2026). “Sometimes systems go down, sometimes electronic payment systems don’t work,” Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said, acknowledging that cash provides an “essential fallback” when digital payments break down. “We’ve all been standing at a queue in a shop somewhere, and they say the EFTPOS system has gone down, the power’s out,” Jones noted – and he doesn’t want that scenario to “become a crippling event right across the economy.” In short, Canberra is now recognising what many seniors have argued for years: completely ditching cash could be dangerous, and at the very least we need a backup for when tech fails.
“Keep Cash”: Seniors Lead the Fight (and the Government Starts Listening)
If you’ve noticed stickers in shop windows saying “We Accept Cash” lately, you might have the seniors to thank. National Seniors Australia has been at the forefront of the “Keep Cash” campaign, a grassroots push to ensure notes and coins remain part of daily commerce. They’ve encouraged businesses to proudly display those stickers and even ran a competition for people to share photos in Keep Cash T-shirts (with a chance to win a $2,500 travel voucher, no less). It might sound a bit cheeky, but there’s a serious message: if we don’t use it, we could lose it. Banks have been steadily closing ATMs and branches, and some shops have flirted with card-only policies. NSA and its allies want to remind everyone – from government to big retailers – that completely phasing out cash could leave many Aussies behind, and leave all of us vulnerable when disaster strikes.It appears their advocacy is paying off. As mentioned, the federal government is working on laws to guarantee your right to pay cash for essentials. This came after stories of people being unable to buy groceries during outages made headlines, and after global incidents (like that CrowdStrike outage) made policymakers sweat. There’s also been movement at state levels: for example, some states have debated requiring businesses to accept legal tender, and consumer groups have supported these moves for the sake of inclusivity and resilience.
One reason seniors are leading this charge is that seniors use cash more than most. RBA data show that “many people over 65 still rely on cash, with nearly one in five qualifying as high cash users.” That means almost 20% of older Australians predominantly use cash for transactions – whether due to habit, comfort, or lack of trust in digital banking. They’re also the ones who remember (often from hard experience) what it’s like when modern systems fail. If you grew up when banking was done in a passbook and every shop had a cash register that dinged, you intuitively understand the value of tangible money. Seniors have the perspective of living in both the pre-digital and digital eras, and many can tell you that the “good old days” weren’t always good – but at least your money still worked even when the power didn’t!
Importantly, keeping cash alive isn’t just self-interest for seniors; it’s about social inclusion and resilience for everyone. Older Australians worry about younger generations who have never handled much cash and assume PayID or Apple Pay will always work. They worry about those in rural or remote areas with spotty internet. They worry about people with disabilities or on low incomes who might struggle with fintech. And yes, they worry about themselves – not all seniors find it easy to jump on the digital bandwagon, and they shouldn’t be left stranded at the checkout because they prefer to pay in notes and coins. Maintaining cash accessibility is not just about catering to a preference, it’s a matter of resilience and inclusivity, as NSA often says.
Consider also security and privacy – cash doesn’t leave a data trail and doesn’t crash due to a hacker or bug. There are anecdotes of seniors teaching their grandkids how to save a little emergency cash “just in case,” or slipping a $50 note in the young ones’ disaster kit. It’s not about resisting change; it’s about being prepared for the unexpected.
Expert Advice: In Emergencies, Cash Is Your Best Friend
If all this sounds a bit dramatic, just listen to the experts who deal with disasters and emergency management. They all sing a similar tune: have some cash in your emergency kit! The Queensland State Emergency Service (SES) specifically lists cash as a must-have item in your household’s emergency survival kit. Why? Because power outages can knock out ATMs and EFTPOS machines, and in a crisis you may need to buy supplies or fuel when electronic banking is unavailable. The official Get Ready Queensland checklist puts cash alongside water, food, first aid supplies and batteries – that’s how essential it is. The same advice is echoed by emergency services around the country. An ABC Emergency preparedness guide bluntly notes you should stash “enough [cash] to meet basic needs for a few days” in your cyclone or bushfire kit.Emergency management professionals often cite a simple reason: “Cash is king” in times of crisis. Creative technologist Jessie Hughes, who worked on disaster resilience, told the ABC that in events like floods and bushfires, cash becomes a lifeline. Why? “Electricity and telecommunications outages can take out digital networks and people’s access to funds with them,” she explained. In a big flood, the cell towers might be down, the local bank branch underwater, and the power grid offline. Your credit card and phone app become fancy plastic and glass bricks. But cash still works – it’s accepted for a bottle of water or a tank of petrol even when nothing else is.
One dramatic example was the 2022 Northern NSW floods (Lismore and surrounds). The flooding was so severe it not only submerged towns but also “crashed electronic payment systems, leaving flood victims unable to pay for essential items like water, food and fuel.” People literally had money in the bank that they couldn’t access to buy a loaf of bread. In response, a group of five local credit unions chartered a helicopter to deliver cash to the region. They flew in a cash-filled ATM and bags of banknotes to ensure people had something to spend. One report noted that in Lismore, it got so bad that “an ATM of emergency cash had to be helicoptered in to give people enough money to pay for essential items”. Just imagine: a helicopter full of cash hovering down because that was the only way to get money into people’s hands. If that doesn’t underscore the power of physical currency, nothing will!
Emergency services also remind people that local retailers will often revert to cash-only during disasters. We saw this in the Woolworths Sebastopol incident where staff told customers to withdraw paper money at the door. During Queensland’s floods, there were reports that even big hardware stores like Bunnings “only [were] able to accept cash” when the power was out and EFTPOS was down. Fuel stations, unable to run pumps electronically, sometimes can operate on generator power but can’t process cards – so they’ll take cash if you have it. NSW SES volunteers have recounted stories of rolling into country towns after bushfires where the only way to buy a hot meal or a bag of ice was with cash (as all digital systems were offline).
Brad Kelly, co-founder of the Independent Payments Forum and a payments expert, advises everyone – especially those in disaster-prone areas – to keep a few hundred dollars in cash at home as part of their emergency plan. “Cash will be king in the hardest-hit areas,” Kelly told Yahoo Finance during Cyclone Alfred’s approach, noting that cash can continue to circulate hand-to-hand when digital payments fail. He pointed to the Northern NSW floods as proof, and warned that every cyclone season or bushfire summer could bring a similar scenario. Essentially, cash is your insurance for the unexpected – you hope you won’t need it, but you’ll be awfully glad you have it when the worst happens.
Let’s be clear: nobody is saying you need to stash millions under your mattress. But having enough cash for a few days’ basic expenses – think petrol, groceries, maybe a night in a motel – is strongly recommended by preparedness experts. That might mean tucking away a couple of hundred dollars in mixed notes (including some smaller denominations, as exact change might be needed). Keep it somewhere secure and dry (perhaps in a waterproof bag in your emergency kit). It’s like having spare batteries for your radio or canned food in the pantry. You may not touch it in normal times, but it could be a real lifesaver in abnormal times.
Lessons from the Past: How Old-School Cash Saved the Day
If you’re a senior reading this, you might be nodding along and recalling your own stories of “cash to the rescue”. Australia’s history – and indeed the world’s – is full of instances where cash got people through crises. It’s not just theory or hyperbole; it’s lived experience.Remember the 1970s and 1980s? Australia had its share of blackouts and economic ups-and-downs (even a “recession we had to have”). Back then, cash was king every day, not just in emergencies. When the power went out during a storm, your parents or grandparents likely lit some candles and still managed to pay the milkman or the corner shop, because cash was the default. There were no electronic card readers to worry about! In fact, many shops would simply keep serving customers in a blackout by writing prices on paper and making change from the register by torchlight. Older readers might recall the clang of mechanical cash registers – no electricity needed, just a crank handle and a bell.
Even in the early days of credit cards, shops had manual “click-clack” imprinters (those carbon paper slip machines) for offline transactions. A power outage or phone line disruption didn’t stop business; they’d imprint your card and you’d sign, and the charge would go through later. Some smaller merchants today say they still keep one of those manual machines tucked in a cupboard, just in case the EFTPOS goes down – though many younger staff wouldn’t know how to use them! It’s a great example of how we used to design resilience into our payment systems. These days, by contrast, we’ve become so enamored with tap-and-go convenience that many businesses have zero fallback when the internet or power is out. If the Wi-Fi dies, so does their ability to take your money… unless you have cash.
Consider some specific events: Cyclone Tracy in 1974 utterly devastated Darwin, knocking out power and communications for weeks. In the aftermath, cash was crucial for the relief efforts – government agencies rushed currency up to the Top End to ensure people and local suppliers could trade for goods in the absence of banks and electronic systems. The Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983: communities in Victoria and South Australia ravaged by fire relied on cash donations and hand-to-hand purchases for immediate needs, because infrastructure was destroyed. Sydney’s power crisis of 1964 (when parts of the city went dark due to grid failures) – people managed with cash; banks even extended hours to let folks withdraw money as needed once they reopened.
A more recent memory: the Auckland (NZ) CBD blackout of 1998 – not Australia, but close to home and instructive. Auckland’s entire downtown lost power for five weeks due to cable failures. Businesses that survived did so by using cash and cheques; credit card networks were largely down without power. People literally traded cash and IOUs to get through that unprecedented blackout. Many an Aussie traveller in Auckland at the time surely recalls the scramble for New Zealand dollars in physical form.
For our Queensland readers, think back to the Brisbane floods of 2011. EFTPOS was out in many flood-affected suburbs. I remember a story of a bakery in Graceville that had no power but fired up a gas oven to bake bread – they sold those loaves for cash on the sidewalk, with a calculator and notepad to tally prices. Neighbours who had some cash could eat; those who didn’t had to rely on charity until ATMs came back online.
The point of these anecdotes? Cash has proven its worth time after time in living memory. It’s not about being anti-technology; it’s about having a failsafe. Sure, digital payments are convenient 99% of the time. But that 1% of the time – whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyber-attack, or a freak outage – can be downright painful if you’re caught with only a plastic card or a powerless phone. As one witty commentator quipped, “The world might be going digital, but Mother Nature didn’t get the memo.” Storms, fires, and mishaps will knock out our fancy digital world now and then, so it’s wise to keep one foot (and a few dollars) in the analog world.
Conclusion: Keep Some Cash for a Rainy (or Blacked-Out) Day
Australia’s recent experiences with blackouts, network outages, and disasters have taught us a simple truth: cash isn’t just a nostalgic relic – it’s a practical tool and a security blanket. When the power grid fails or the internet crashes, having a bit of cash in your pocket means you can still fuel up the car, buy groceries, or help a neighbour in need. It means a storm need not strand you without supplies. It means independence and peace of mind, especially for those of us who aren’t as tech-savvy or who remember life before smartphones.So, as we embrace the conveniences of tap-and-go living, let’s also remember to plan for the unexpected. Keep some cash at home for emergencies. Support local businesses that continue to accept cash (they’re doing everyone a service by building resilience). And if you hear someone scoff that “cash is obsolete,” just share one of the many stories of how cash saved the day when everything else went dark. They might raise an eyebrow – until the next outage hits and they find themselves wishing for an ATM that works!
In the end, maintaining cash in society is like keeping spare tires in your car – you pray you won’t need them, but you sure don’t want to be without them when you get a flat. It’s not about rolling back progress; it’s about being smart and prepared. As the saying goes, “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” And preparation, in this case, can be as simple as a few banknotes in an envelope stashed safely away.
Now, over to you: Have you ever been caught out with no cash during a blackout or outage? Do you keep some “just in case” money at home, or has a lack of cash ever caused you headaches in an emergency? We’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts. Do you think cash still has an important place in our digital age – especially when the lights go out? Share your stories and let’s talk about it!
Sources:
- National Seniors Australia – Electricity outages prove power of cash
- ABC News – Optus outage coverage (Nov 2023)
- 9News – Woolworths & ANZ outage (Sep 2023)
- 7News – Sebastopol Woolworths cash-only incident (May 2024)
- ABC Emergency – Cyclone emergency kit advice
- Queensland SES – Emergency kit checklist
- Yahoo Finance – Cyclone Alfred cash warning (Mar 2025)
- The Guardian – Cyclone Alfred power outages (Mar 2025)
- ABC News – CrowdStrike outage analysis (Dec 2024)
- ABC News – Cashless society concerns (Aug 2023)
- ABC News – Assistant Treasurer on cash mandate (Dec 2024)
- AFR – Banks prep cash for Cyclone Alfred (Mar 2025)
- Queensland Disaster Management Review
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