Mr Scott said he was bitterly disappointed to learn of NAB’s decision to close its Nanango branch, and said history had shown the closure of a bank branch greatly reduced access to important financial services and advice.

“The NAB’s decision to leave Nanango may be potentially devastating for the region’s economic prosperity – a 2004 Federal House of Representatives inquiry into banking in the bush shows that the loss of a bank branch, particularly if it’s the last remaining, has wide reaching implications for the economic and social life of a community,” Mr Scott said.

“I was very disappointed to learn that NAB is abandoning the people of Nanango and to add insult to injury, the Bank’s Executives have not notified me of their intentions, which is a highly irregular move in the history of finance and government relations,” Mr Scott said.

“If it had not been for the diligent reporting of the South Burnett Times and a personal call by Queensland’s Finance Sector Union Secretary, Michael Clifford, I may have remained in the dark about this serious situation my constituents are currently facing.

“I am surprised that NAB, as one of the four major financial service providers in Australia, would disappear from a town which is less than 200km from the state’s capital.

“It is important that the Nanango community keeps fighting to make the NAB Executives aware that not all people can afford a computer to do internet banking, nor can everyone travel great distances simply to bank a cheque,” he said.