Petition launched to save Tom Price’s only bank as local Member slams closure decision

Plans to close the Westpac in Tom Price have been slammed with the local member launching a petition to try and save the town’s only bank. Westpac will close its Tom Price outlet on December 16, leaving residents of the small Pilbara town without face-to-face banking options. It is currently the only physical bank still operating in Tom Price after United Credit Union closed in 2010. Member for Mining and Pastoral region, and Tom Price resident, Peter Foster slammed the announcement and launched a petition to keep the facility open. The petition was launched on September 21 and has gained 177 signatures in five days. Mr Foster said no one in Tom Price saw the closure coming. “We’ve got three and a half thousand residents in tandem with numerous products from investment property, home loans, long-term deposits, kids have got savings accounts. It’s just terrible,” he said. “There was no consultation with the community.” Mr Foster said he would be taking the petition to Westpac and asking why they had done this to the Tom Price community. A Westpac Group spokesperson said: “Declining customer use of branches means that in some instances, we may take a difficult decision to leave a branch location. “In these instances, we continue to support our customers by expanding access via Bank@Post, telephone, mobile and virtual banking. “We take steps to ensure customers are notified in advance about the changes and are directly connected with the services they need to continue to do their banking. “For those who are new to digital banking, or may require more assistance with the changes, we provide dedicated support and education to make the transition easier.” The spokesperson said customers could continue to access the same cash services locally via Australia Post at Tom Price Post Shop, just 350m away from the current branch. However, Mr Foster said there would only be limited facilities available at the Australia Post branch. “You can only do a certain amount of banking there. You can’t open a bank account, you can’t close your account, you can’t change a signatory on a bank account and if you don’t have ID you won’t be served,” he said. He said getting rid of face-to-face services impacted businesses, sports clubs, residents and community groups. “It is in everybody’s interests for Westpac to consider the impact on the local community before cutting an essential front-line service,” he said.