#Australian bank note series#

The devices in the new banknotes are like this but use more robust technology. These are similar to the original 1988 A$10 commemorative banknote that had a diffraction grating, fine metal lines that when exposed to the light change colour, depicting Captain Cook. These are called “optically variable devices”. All polymer banknotes internationally have these two features as neither can be reproduced on paper copying machines.īoth the new A$5 and A$10 banknotes include a top to bottom clear area with a number of devices that change colour when moved or when exposed to different light sources. The A$10 note is still printed on the same polymer material, has a clear window and has micro-printed verses from the poems of Banjo Paterson and Mary Gilmore.

#Australian bank note series#

The new banknotes retain all of the security features of the first series of polymer banknotes, but with some new additions. Reserve Bank of Australia/The Conversation For example, the “waxy” feeling of a A$10 banknote in 1966 failed to fool a milk bar owner in Ashburton and the forgers were apprehended within a few hours. In 2016 31,682 counterfeits were used before they were detected. Quality printing on polymer is now possible with modern printing and copying equipment.Īlso counterfeiters need only simulate a banknote, not reproduce it exactly, to fool us. Computing and printing equipment has become more sophisticated and cheaper. The rate rose to as high as 25ppm in 2015. In contrast to this, the Australian rate rose to about 15ppm towards the end of the first decimal paper money series but dropped dramatically to 1 or 2ppm when the polymer notes were introduced.

Issuing authorities usually like the number to be under 50ppm.Ĭanada had the highest rate of counterfeiting before adopting the polymer note, it reached a peak of 470ppm in 2004 and stayed high until the release of their polymer banknotes in 2011. The rate of counterfeit notes is usually quoted as the number of counterfeits per million notes in circulation (ppm). The new A$50 banknote will be particularly important since, in 2016, nearly 84% of our counterfeit notes are of that denomination.

The next new banknote to be released will be the A$50, planned for 2018 and the A$20 and A$100 in later years.