Mr Gee said he was in no doubt that both Molong and Blayney, also slated to be closed this Friday, are both profitable banking centres located in thriving rural areas.

"Rural communities are being abandoned by the big banks," he said.

READ ALSO: Banks want debt management firms licensed

"Here we are, the centre of Australia's economy, growing our country's food and produce, fighting droughts and bushfires and yet the big banks are turning their backs and using the cover of COVID as an opportunity to close branches."

The solution offered by the CBA is to allocate information officers for a couple of days a week for a few months, a solution that Mr Gee said is not even close to good enough considering the bank's massive profits.

"The fact that the bank believes this to be a positive outcome, highlights the huge gap between the CBA headquarters and community feeling on the ground in our region," he said.

"Clearly Australia's big banks are only concerned about lining their own bulging pockets.

READ ALSO: Reliance Bank committed to keeping Blayney branch open

"I think there is a strong and growing argument for the Australian Government to mandate minimum service requirements for banking in country areas.

"This is a stark example of Australia's banks putting super profits ahead of their long-standing and loyal country customers, who rely on the banks to provide the services they need to manage their businesses and livelihoods."

As the Minister for Decentralisation, Mr Gee believes that the banks are working against current trends in population movement.

"While the Government is working to promote decentralisation and the growing trend to move to the regions, the banks are actively undermining this by a deliberate plan to close country branches," he said.

Mr Gee not only questions the bank's forward planning, but also takes a swing at their treatment of long-term rural customers and of the rural - city divide.

READ ALSO: Molong mother thankful for kids' kind act at swimming pool

"The loyal country customers of these banks feel betrayed and angry. In many cases this loyalty spans generations and there is a real feeling on the ground that this is a shocking way for this long-standing support to be repaid," he said.

"This is actually about people in regional communities having the same access to services as their city counterparts. In the city if there is a branch closure it is pretty easy to get to another branch if it's a few kilometres down the road.

"That is not the case in the country where is not so easy to get to other branches. And my request of the big banks is that they should be delivering the same level of service, ensuring accessibility to country communities as they do in the city."