It was just one line of bad code in a routine software update, apparently, which threw Australia into chaos on Friday and over the weekend. One line of bad code created what is being called the world’s biggest IT failure, shutting down essential services across the nation and the world.

According to Forbes Australia, it remains to be seen how much money this will ultimately cost our economy, but conservative estimates run into the billions of dollars. Some businesses, like supermarkets, are still impacted.

The outage should be a wake-up call on several fronts. It demonstrated how social complexity, interconnectivity, and interdependence leave us vulnerable to the smallest shocks. It showed the need to have redundant systems in place to keep things going while the problem is fixed. It showed that our communication and information networks are highly vulnerable, not only to simple mistakes, but also to malicious attacks by hackers or foreign states.

And it showed that cash was still essential to our lives. Electronic funds transfer is so convenient that many of us barely give tap-and-go payments a second thought, but when that convenience is denied to us, banknotes and coins remain the only reliable means of paying for the things we need.

One Nation has always championed cash against attempts to limit its role and curtail its use. The votes of Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts were essential to defeating legislation that would have limited cash transactions in Australia to $10,000 or less. We continue to champion cash as a defence against insidious attempts to monitor our finances and purchases.

The vulnerability of our networks on display over the weekend should also be a strong warning against the adoption of a national digital ID system. Many Australians found it damn inconvenient to pay for things over the weekend, but that inconvenience is nothing next to having your identity stolen. One Nation will always fight against digital ID.