Elsie Lange
From early September, if a Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) customer living in Woodend wanted to go and see a teller, or struggled using ATMs or online banking, they’d have to travel to Gisborne or Kyneton.
That’s a 15 minute drive south or a 14 minute drive north to each town respectively, just one way.
Woodend resident Terry Stone wasn’t impressed when he received a letter from the bank notifying him of the closure, especially since he’d only become a CBA customer because of their presence in his community.
“It’s been helpful to have the branch there from my perspective, but what I have noticed is every single time I’ve been in there, I see older members of the community conducting their banking… they’re very much cash based,” Mr Stone said.
He was worried for the more vulnerable Woodenders, who he believed would struggle without a local branch.
“They don’t always have the same options that some of the younger, more able-bodied people do, in terms of being able to go to Kyneton, or being able to go to Gisborne,” he said.
The letter sent to Mr Stone, seen by Star Weekly, suggested customers conduct their banking at Australia Post if they needed, but he said the local post office was “not a viable alternative”.
“Due to [the] added weight of customers, local internet infrastructure is not reliable enough for even the local merchants to rely on,” he said.
“And for those suggesting withdrawing cash by taking cash back at the major supermarket in town, this would draw more business away from the smaller concerns such as the butcher or greengrocer in town and many other local family businesses too.”
CBA rural general manager David Castle said following a recent review which showed transactions at the Woodend branch were down by half over the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, a “difficult decision” had been made to close the centre.
He said Woodend CBA employees were being supported to find new roles.
“For Woodend customers, we have other branches in the region at Kyneton and Gisborne. We’ve found a quarter of customers from Woodend are already visiting these other branches,” he said.
However, Mr Stone said he was worried how the closure would impact Woodend businesses, as people conducting their banking would spend in other towns.
“That’s money that leaves the local economy and gets spent in Kyneton and Gisborne, which is great for them, but it starts to destroy the fabric of the local town,” he said.
“When you spend a dollar in Woodend with a family business, you’re putting shoes on the feet of your neighbours’ kids, you’re sending them to school… if you spend it with a business in Gisborne for example, that money is leaving the local people.”
