Carnamah hosts hearing on regional bank closures after only branch for 120km shut without impact assessment

The Shire of Carnamah has hosted a public hearing on the closure of regional banks, six months after the shire’s Westpac branch was shut despite pleas from the community to keep the service. The shire was one of two locations chosen to host the public hearings run by the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. Shire president Merle Isbister said the decision to hold the hearings in Carnamah was “an acknowledgement of the strong stance council took to oppose the closure of our Westpac Branch in February 2023”. The hearings come after Mid West residents expressed concerns for neighbouring towns Three Springs, Morawa and Perenjori that used the branch as its lifeline when their own banks were closed in 2021. Cr Isbister said: “Banks do not demonstrate any operational honesty in respect to listening to the needs and concerns of the communities in which they have been part of for many years”. Westpac provided statistics to justify the closure, but local business owner Sandy Wallace told the ABC: “They tell us to use cards and not to come in to the bricks and mortar, so they can say no one is coming to the bank anymore, but that’s just because they’ve trained people not to.” The closure has had a domino effect on the community, with residents taking the 120km round trip to Moora to do their banking, groceries and other errands in the same journey to avoid multiple stops — taking business away from Carnamah. The hearing in Carnamah was held on Tuesday, August 15, with another hearing to be held in Beverley the following day.