Albanese talked up cheaper coffee, but Chalmers has to swallow his pride

It was the Reserve Bank that announced back in March that it would ban credit and debit card surcharges from October this year.

But it was the government that took the credit, with MPs hailing the move as a win for consumers. On social feeds from Albanese to the local backbencher, they said this would save consumers about $1.6 billion a year, and the price people paid for a meal, a coffee or their rent would be the same regardless of whether they paid by card or with cash.

Somehow, they missed the warnings earlier this year that cafes, shops and bars were likely to hike their prices to recover the money lost now they could not pass on transaction fees.

So when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted on his social media a week ago that coffee prices could come down because of the surcharge ban, he was instantly flamed by small business owners assailing him with straightforward explanations of why that simply wasn’t going to happen.

The gist of it? That the surcharges that banks levy businesses for transactions weren’t disappearing, just the ability to pass the charge on to customers.