Elsie Lange
McEwen MP Rob Mitchell says Commonwealth Bank Australia is putting “profits over people” in closing its Woodend branch on September 2.
Mr Mitchell condemned CBA’s decision following their response to his calls to delay the closure, describing the treatment of the Woodend communtiy and CBA customers as “disappointing”.
“Not even considering having discussions with the community about their banking needs and the lack of understanding that not everyone is able to travel to another branch or navigate online services is astounding,” Mr Mitchell said.
“With no other bank in town, all this does is put even more pressure on people, including small businesses still trying to rebuild from a pandemic.”
Mr Mitchell said he wrote to the CBA in early August citing his “extreme disappointment”, asking them to pause the plan until they had “appropriately consulted the community, explained how it will not only redeploy its staff, [but also] continue to provide this essential service to our community”.
Responding to questions from Star Weekly regarding Mr Mitchell’s correspondence, CBA regional general manager David Castle said the bank had “redeployed the vast majority of staff” from the branches closed.
“We are engaging our people from Woodend branch to support securing appropriate comparable roles suitable to their needs,” Mr Castle said.
He said the bank had ensured customers who prefer over-the-counter services still had access to that option.
“For Woodend customers, we have other branches in the region at Kyneton and Gisborne. We’ve found a quarter customers from Woodend are already visiting these other branches,” he said.
In both a response to Star Weekly and Mr Mitchell, CBA said customers who preferred face-to-face options could still use Australia Post’s Bank@Post, down at the Woodend LPO and “nearby Macedon and Tylden LPOs”.
In early August, Star Weekly reported on concerns in the community about how the closure would affect older and more vulnerable residents of Woodend who couldn’t travel to Gisborne and Kyneton.
Mr Mitchell described CBA’s response as a “genuine example of putting profits over people”.
“The people of Woodend deserve better,” Mr Mitchell said.
