Australia’s new $5 banknote design panned

Australia has a new $5 banknote, and it has new security features against counterfeiting and to help the vision-impaired. However, initial reactions to its design aren’t welcoming at all.

The Reserve Bank of Australia unveiled the new design on Tuesday, keeping the key aspects of the existing design – colour, size and people portrayed – in the new $5 banknote. These are retained for ease of recognition and to minimise disruption to businesses, the RBA said. The picture of Queen Elizabeth II, who looks older compared her image on the current $5 bill, is still included in the design.

Apart from the added “tactile” feature to help the vision-impaired community distinguish different banknote denominations, the RBA added new security features to prevent counterfeiting.

“As can be seen in the images, these include a distinctive top-to-bottom window. Each banknote in the new series will depict a different species of Australian wattle and a native bird within a number of the elements. On the $5 banknote, these are the Prickly Moses wattle and the Eastern Spinebill,” RBA Governor Glenn Stevens explained.

The Prickly Moses wattle (the yellow leaf-like stalks) and the Eastern Spinebill (the colourful bird) are featured on both sides of the bill.

The new $5 banknote will be issued from Sep. 1. The existing $5 banknotes are still acceptable for use even after the new ones are issued.

According to the RBA, the designs of the new $5 are the culmination of a process of extensive consultation with experts and qualitative research.

Not everyone is loving the design, though. Australians flocked on social media to give their thoughts about the new $5 bill, and it appears they aren’t happy with it at all. Most of the complaints are about the bright, “awful” design, but there were also complaints on the Queen’s inclusion.

Nevertheless, there are also fans of the new colourful design.