The commentary and discourse around the card surcharge ban has been infuriating and are the talking points of partisan hacks
These surcharges have been illegal in the UK and EU for years now without the hysteria which people are suggesting will arise. The move is intended to increase upfront competition. Who is most opposed to those things in this country but entrenched big businesses (particularly the banks, airlines, and supermarkets)? Economists have also indicated that the changes will reduce productivity and efficiency losses. These things should be celebrated; instead, we're stuck on the same partisan loop.
The cost of a commbank stripe which most small businesses use to allow card transactions is $25 plus 0.99% per transaction. 1% on a $5 coffee is 5c. If businesses are charging more than 5c more on a $5 transaction after today, they don't deserve your business.
The cost of paying with cash is not free for businesses either. You can't pay most business bills with cash and you need to take time out of a worker's day to deposit the cash if it's to be used for bills or most wages. 1% is probably not even close to indicative of that time spent doing that. People arguing that they shouldn't pay an extra amount absorbed into the price of the good or service after today don't talk about that at all.
This change encourages transparency and accountability. Consumers often didn't know how much they were going to be charged until it appeared on their phone. How many times did you see $5 appear on a payment terminal only to be charged $5.35 on your statement after paying. Not only was that an inordinate increase given the normal surcharges banks charge as above, but you can't budget for that. The RBA says that these surcharges amounted to $1.6bn every year for Australians. This reduces that amount by encouraging businesses to choose terminal options which charge less to the greatest extent possible.