Slow uptake of Paywave here is pretty much down to fees.
EFTPOS I think we were one of the fastest to accept when introduced , but that was rolled out with very low fee structure.

Paywave is much more expensive here than UK or Aussie , i think Aussie had to put hard word on banks and legislate.

The average fee charged for credit cards is 1.6 per cent but they can top 2 per cent. 
That compares to 0.8 per cent on average in Australia and 0.5 per cent in the United Kingdom.

Average does not really tell the full story.
If you are a small trader with low $ value per transaction there are much higher costs that make it uneconomic in normal times. 
The big guys have negotiating power, pushing costs down to the smaller operators.

It does mean people have to carefully manage their credit card account, which is a problem for some.
Thus budgeting center advice to in the past to get rid of your credit cards .

its certainly about time that something was done to align our paywave costs with at least Australia.