By Melissa Meehan
BIG banks have turned their backs on small communities according to the people of Garfield.
As news of the ANZ branch closure filtered through the town, residents and shopkeepers have come together to attempt to save it.
The ANZ Garfield branch will close at 3pm on 16 March before merging with the ANZ Drouin branch.
More than 50 concerned townsfolk came together on Friday to show their support of the Garfield branch, all of them customers.
Dairy farmer John Reid and spokesman for the group said it was important to the town that the bank stayed put.
“We don’t all use internet banking, some of us don’t know how to use the internet,” Mr Reid said.
“We want to keep being able to go into the branch.
“And a hole in the wall isn’t the same.”
Some in the group said they held an account with the bank for 69 years.
“It’s not just the ANZ that’s turning their back on Garfield, but it’s all the other towns around us, too,” Mr Reid said.
“It makes it very easy for us to bank with the Bendigo Bank.”
Mr Reid and the group said they thought the ANZ had an obligation to the district to stay open.
“We want to encourage people to come to the town, when people do their banking it’s more likely they’ll pop into the pharmacy or grab a coffee,” he said.
“Garfield is not a dying town, its worth keeping open and we think the bank should see the bigger picture.”
Cardinia Shire councillor Graeme Moore also attended the meeting, and said he too was a customer.
“Without having a branch in the town means the older citizens of Garfield who were able to walk or get in the car and drive a short distance to do their banking will now be stuck,” he said.
“It’s not progressive, they haven’t looked at the growth of the area and how it will grow in the future.
“Without a bank, it turns away businesses that might look at moving here – then once again we become isolated again, like a desolate island.”
Spokeswoman for ANZ Ingrid Nugent said the bank was currently looking for a new ATM location in Garfield that will be available to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We had a detailed look at our operation in the area and the number of customers using the branch has, unfortunately, fallen quite dramatically over the years,” Ms Nugent said.
“As a result, we have decided to centralise all our banking for the community to a larger branch that offers a range of services including investments, transaction accounts, financial planning, insurances, as well as home and investment loans.” In the meantime, the ANZ will continue to provide an ATM service in Garfield at the current location inside the Garfield Newsagency.
