Community Bank

[Kelly]

Sounds like a good idea .

The Charters Towers Community Bank .
The committee trying to start the idea ,
We are told is looking to see what others think about the idea .

If it was to start it would be guaranteed by the Bendigo Bank .

Also some of the profits could go to local non profit organisations .

Sounds like a great idea .

:D

[Bluey]

A Community Bank .
Yes i agree it sounds like a great idea .
And if it would help local non profit organisations .
It has to be a good idea for our community .

:D

[Rob Talbot]

I know the non-profit organisations need all the help they can get, but isn't the community bank idea supposed to help people get on their feet and remain viable, as a way around the financial burden posed by the normal financial processes, increasing debt and high interest rates? I mean, would we not risk the very workability of the scheme by taking profits generated by the industries the scheme is helping, and giving them to organisations that are not connected with those industries' productivity? I understand this same type of scheme was introduced with some success in Home Hill, and it is not new, I remember reading about it being introduced in Canada more than twenty years ago.

[Kelly]

You make a good point Rob .

[tubley]

The bank is a great idea. Also if you want to put Charters Towers back on its feet financially, get rid of the large chain take-away restaurants like Eagle boys and MacDonalds. All the money goes to them and other 'true' local companies cannot compete.

They may be locally owned but they're still connected to a chain far greater than our small community. They might give funds to local sporting clubs and charities etc but they do so with their own agenda in mind. I reckon we need to start supporting the locals who have been here for generations and not these new hot shot multi-nationals.

Charters Towers needs to do it on its own.

[Rob Talbot]

The Bendigo Bank has a good reputation as a banking organisation, but I'm a bit concerned about it being connected to this kind of project. If the formation of a community bank is to get away from the rising debts and interest rates of banks per se, then having it guaranteed by a bank is like getting a dingo to look after your chooks. How concerned will the Bendigo Bank be with the success of something that proposes to byp*** bank charges and profiteering? Banks get a bad reputation when times are tough, they tend to look after their own interests and do what is necessary to survive and remain profitable. That is not a bad thing - if the banks go under, the country is next. Community banks attempt to concentrate the ptofits of a community on the community itself, and that's a good thing too. I'm just not so sure the two are compatible. I would be more comfortable with the community bank, should it go ahead, being guaranteed by the larger industries, the mines that gave us the World Theatre complex as a sign of their commitment to our community. I can't see any bank doing that.