WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 You know, usually when we talk about the things 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.639 that carry around every day, we focus on our 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:08.380 phones, our keys, maybe like a favorite pen. 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:11.240 Right, the essentials. Yeah, exactly. But I want 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.419 you to think about the physical money in your 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:18.920 wallet right now, specifically the paper, well, 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.640 I guess the plastic cash. If you even have any 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.300 physical cash on you these days. Right. But think 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.739 about it. How often do you actually stop to look 00:00:26.739 --> 00:00:29.219 at it? versus just, you know, handing it over 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:31.539 the counter or feeding it into a vending machine. 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:33.460 Yeah, most people just register the color and 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:35.420 the number in the corner. It's just a means to 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.380 an end. Totally. But today, we're doing a deep 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.659 dive into the Australian $5 note, and we're pulling 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:44.020 all our insights straight from this incredibly 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:47.000 comprehensive Wikipedia article about its life 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.520 cycle. And it is a fascinating life cycle. It 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.100 really is. Because if you look closely at the 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:54.649 Fiverr, You aren't just looking at money. You're 00:00:54.649 --> 00:00:57.649 looking at this piece of indestructible, highly 00:00:57.649 --> 00:01:01.030 engineered plastic that tells a huge story. Yeah, 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:03.130 a piece of currency is never just a transaction 00:01:03.130 --> 00:01:06.510 tool. It's really a mirror. It reflects a nation's 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:08.950 technological progress, and it's shifting values 00:01:08.950 --> 00:01:11.849 over time. Okay, let's unpack this. Because the 00:01:11.849 --> 00:01:13.969 story of the fiber... doesn't actually start 00:01:13.969 --> 00:01:16.590 with its physical invention. It starts with this 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:19.730 massive structural shift in the Australian economy. 00:01:19.810 --> 00:01:22.290 Right, the shift to decimal currency. Exactly. 00:01:22.409 --> 00:01:25.549 Take us back to the mid -1960s. Australia is 00:01:25.549 --> 00:01:27.870 still using the British system, right? Pounds, 00:01:28.030 --> 00:01:31.150 shillings, pence. Oh, yeah. A system that required, 00:01:31.150 --> 00:01:34.290 like, a degree in advanced mathematics just to 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:35.689 buy groceries. That sounds like a nightmare. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.659 It was incredibly convoluted. You had 12 pence 00:01:38.659 --> 00:01:41.260 to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound. So calculating 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:44.799 simple change involves some serious mental gymnastics. 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:48.579 I can't even imagine. So on February 14th, 1966, 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:51.680 Australia completely overhauls its economy overnight. 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:53.980 They switched to decimal currency. Just ripping 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:56.519 the bandaid off. Exactly. The Australian dollar 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.299 is born and everything shifts to a clean base 00:01:59.299 --> 00:02:02.140 10 system. The whole country had to relearn how 00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:05.420 to value everyday objects. But here's the crazy 00:02:05.420 --> 00:02:09.379 part about that changeover day in 1966. They 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:11.840 rolled out the new money. Right. The ones, the 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.379 twos, the tens. Yeah. But there was no five dollar 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.340 note. The fiver didn't actually show up until 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:23.400 15 months later on May 29th, 1967. Which is such 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.370 a fascinating psychological. quirk of economics. 00:02:26.389 --> 00:02:28.530 It's like a brand new puzzle piece being invented 00:02:28.530 --> 00:02:31.310 that didn't even exist in the old box. Why the 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:33.750 delay? Well, it comes down to translation. When 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:36.430 you transition an entire economy's currency, 00:02:36.729 --> 00:02:38.990 you generally map the old notes directly to the 00:02:38.990 --> 00:02:40.949 new ones just to help people adjust. OK, that 00:02:40.949 --> 00:02:42.949 makes sense. Right. So a 10 shilling note became 00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:45.129 a one dollar note, a one pound note became a 00:02:45.129 --> 00:02:47.150 two dollar note, and a five pound note became 00:02:47.150 --> 00:02:49.270 a ten dollar note. They just needed the math 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.250 to perfectly align so the public would trust 00:02:51.250 --> 00:02:54.139 the new paper. Precisely. But there was no direct 00:02:54.139 --> 00:02:56.639 equivalent for a $5 note in the old system. So 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:58.639 it just didn't exist in the new one either. Exactly. 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:01.539 To get exactly $5 in the old money, you would 00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:04.379 have needed a note worth 2 pounds and 10 shillings, 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:07.340 which was not a thing. The $5 concept literally 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:10.580 did not exist in their economic vocabulary. So 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:13.240 why bother introducing a completely new denomination 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.150 out of thin air 15 months later? Because the 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:19.270 creation of the $5 note was this deliberate step 00:03:19.270 --> 00:03:22.449 in building a modern independent economic identity. 00:03:22.949 --> 00:03:25.610 Oh, wow. Yeah, once the initial shock of the 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:28.509 1966 decimal switch had settled, the Reserve 00:03:28.509 --> 00:03:30.490 Bank realized they needed to push the public 00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:32.650 to stop converting everything back to pounds 00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:35.090 and shillings in their heads. Oh, so forcing 00:03:35.090 --> 00:03:37.550 them to think in the new system. Exactly. It 00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:40.150 was about firmly stepping away from the ghosts 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:43.229 of the British fractional system and fully embracing 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:46.650 a clean, modern decimal world. And the physical 00:03:46.650 --> 00:03:49.150 design of that very first note really reflected 00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:51.610 that ambition, didn't it? It did. It wasn't plastic 00:03:51.610 --> 00:03:53.460 yet, obviously. It was a traditional paper note, 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:57.419 and it had this striking gradient of mauve with 00:03:57.419 --> 00:04:00.219 a really distinct black overprint. Yeah, very 00:04:00.219 --> 00:04:02.659 classic look. It was designed by Gordon Andrews, 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:05.319 the famous Australian artist Russell Drysdale, 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:07.979 acting as an advisor, and they packed so much 00:04:07.979 --> 00:04:10.860 specific history onto it. They really did. The 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:13.400 artwork was incredibly intricate, acting almost 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:15.520 like a colonial scrapbook. Right, it had Sir 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:17.519 Joseph Banks, the botanist who traveled with 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:19.600 Captain Cook. And Caroline Chisholm, who did 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:21.959 all that pioneering philanthropic work for immigrant 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:24.639 women in the 19th century. But they layered those 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:27.240 portraits over like elevations of Sydney streets 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:30.100 from an 1848 publication and a watercolor of 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:32.930 a ship called The Waverly. even a hand bill from 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:35.970 a loan society. They packed the entire foundational 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:38.970 history of colonial New South Wales onto one 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:41.949 little rectangle of mauve paper. Sourced entirely 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:43.930 from the Stay Library, yeah. But there's this 00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:46.810 tiny statistical quirk in these early paper notes 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:48.949 that I find so interesting. Oh, you mean the 00:04:48.949 --> 00:04:51.069 subtle text change at the top of the note? Yeah. 00:04:51.269 --> 00:04:53.769 So if you look at the notes issued between 1967 00:04:53.769 --> 00:04:57.629 and 1974, and they printed over 195 million of 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:00.310 them, by the way. A massive amount. Right. They 00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:03.620 proudly read Commonwealth of Australia but after 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:06.259 1974 they just dropped the Commonwealth. It did. 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:09.779 From 1974 until the end of the paper era in 1992 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:13.319 they printed over 978 million notes that simply 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:16.860 read Australia. It's a subtle shift but shrinking 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:19.680 the text actually expands the independence. Totally. 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:22.240 It's moving from being a child of the empire 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.959 to simply stating your own name on the global 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.339 stage. That's a great way to put it but you know 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:31.209 As beautiful and symbolic as those paper notes 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:34.410 were, paper has a fatal flaw. It really does. 00:05:34.490 --> 00:05:37.790 It rips, it tears, it absorbs moisture. It gets 00:05:37.790 --> 00:05:39.290 accidentally put through the washing machine 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:41.209 in the pocket of your jeans and turns into a 00:05:41.209 --> 00:05:44.209 sad little clump of mauve lint. Exactly. And 00:05:44.209 --> 00:05:46.750 the Reserve Bank realized that replacing all 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:49.490 these destroyed paper notes was costing an absolute 00:05:49.490 --> 00:05:52.089 fortune. So they needed something vastly more 00:05:52.089 --> 00:05:55.389 durable. And that necessity drove a massive technological 00:05:55.389 --> 00:05:59.100 leap. Australia decided to invent Polymer bank 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:02.300 notes. Plastic money. And here's where it gets 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:04.899 really interesting. Because being a pioneer means 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:06.879 you are the first one to make the really big 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:10.639 mistakes. Oh, definitely. On July 7, 1992, Australia 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:12.939 introduces its first polymer version of the note. 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:15.519 It's supposed to be the future of global currency. 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:18.600 And the manufacturing process itself is wild, 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:20.600 isn't it? It's incredible. They don't just print 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.839 on plastic like it's paper. Right. The foundation 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:27.259 is this specialized material called biaxially 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:30.300 oriented polypropylene. Say that five times fast. 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:34.199 Right. Or BOPP for short. It starts as a completely 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:37.759 clear transparent film. Okay. And to create the 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.000 note, they print multiple layers of specially 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.600 formulated opaque inks called opacifiers onto 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:45.939 both sides of this clear plastic. So they're 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:47.839 essentially painting the note onto the plastic. 00:06:48.029 --> 00:06:51.050 Exactly. And they deliberately leave certain 00:06:51.050 --> 00:06:53.949 areas unpainted to create transparent windows. 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:56.569 That is brilliant. So the window isn't like a 00:06:56.569 --> 00:06:58.810 piece of chloroplastic glued into a hole. The 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:00.910 whole note is clear plastic and the window is 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:02.889 just the part they didn't paint over. That is 00:07:02.889 --> 00:07:05.790 some serious molecular level engineering. But 00:07:05.790 --> 00:07:08.009 despite all that brilliant engineering, they 00:07:08.009 --> 00:07:11.129 kept the original mauve color, specifically a 00:07:11.129 --> 00:07:14.730 very pale mauve. Yes. And they completely failed 00:07:14.730 --> 00:07:17.389 basic human usability. They really did, because 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:19.769 a piece of currency has one fundamental job before 00:07:19.769 --> 00:07:22.089 anything else. You need to know exactly how much 00:07:22.089 --> 00:07:23.870 it's worth the second you look at it. Right, 00:07:23.990 --> 00:07:28.689 obviously. And people found this new pale mauve 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:31.970 $5 note incredibly difficult to distinguish from 00:07:31.970 --> 00:07:35.329 the existing $10 note, which was blue. Especially 00:07:35.329 --> 00:07:38.589 if you were at a dimly lit bar or like in the 00:07:38.589 --> 00:07:41.529 back of a taxi at night. It was a disaster. People 00:07:41.529 --> 00:07:43.670 were constantly handing over $10 thinking it 00:07:43.670 --> 00:07:46.410 was five or getting the wrong change. It is the 00:07:46.410 --> 00:07:49.069 ultimate irony. You spend years in a laboratory 00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:52.110 creating a high -tech polymer material that is 00:07:52.110 --> 00:07:54.810 virtually indestructible, and then you fail at 00:07:54.810 --> 00:07:56.990 basic color coordination. It happens so often 00:07:56.990 --> 00:07:59.209 with new tech, though. It's like releasing a 00:07:59.209 --> 00:08:01.430 state -of -the -art smartphone, but making the 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.180 call button invisible. Yeah, if we connect this 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:06.420 to the bigger picture, early adoption of any 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:09.240 new technology always comes with unforeseen user 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:12.259 experience hurdles. In a controlled laboratory 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:15.060 setting under bright, perfectly calibrated fluorescent 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:17.639 lights, the designers clearly thought the pale 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:19.939 mauve looked perfectly distinct from the blue 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:22.519 tin. But out in the wild, in the real world of 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.670 shadowed wallets and rush transactions, it Completely 00:08:25.670 --> 00:08:27.889 failed the test. Completely. The public outcry 00:08:27.889 --> 00:08:30.529 was massive. And it forced them into iterative 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:32.769 design, right? Yeah. They had to fix it fast. 00:08:32.929 --> 00:08:36.830 They did. In April 1995, they released a revised 00:08:36.830 --> 00:08:39.909 polymer issue. And this time, they didn't mess 00:08:39.909 --> 00:08:43.610 around. They went with a much deeper, richer, 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:46.389 unmistakable shade of mauve. And they completely 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:48.769 changed the font for the Numeral 5 to make it 00:08:48.769 --> 00:08:51.669 really jump off the plastic. This 1995 design 00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:54.169 cemented the modern look of the Fiverr. They 00:08:54.169 --> 00:08:56.490 put Queen Elizabeth II and eucalyptus leaves 00:08:56.490 --> 00:08:58.809 on the front and the new Parliament House in 00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:01.570 Canberra on the back. And because they had finally 00:09:01.570 --> 00:09:04.570 perfected the polymer canvas and fixed that usability 00:09:04.570 --> 00:09:07.289 issue, they realized something important. What's 00:09:07.289 --> 00:09:09.990 that? They didn't just have to use this indestructible 00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:12.490 material for utility, they could use it for art. 00:09:12.649 --> 00:09:15.110 Oh, right. Once the structural integrity was 00:09:15.110 --> 00:09:17.809 solved, the Reserve Bank began utilizing the 00:09:17.809 --> 00:09:21.450 $5 note to showcase an evolving, highly detailed 00:09:21.450 --> 00:09:24.070 picture of Australian identity. And the first 00:09:24.070 --> 00:09:26.490 real taste of this artistic shift happened in 00:09:26.490 --> 00:09:30.460 2001, didn't it? Yes. They issued a special four 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:33.179 -year commemorative note to celebrate the centenary 00:09:33.179 --> 00:09:35.399 of Federation. They actually took the Queen off 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:37.639 the front temporarily for that one. They did, 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:39.940 replacing her with Sir Henry Parks, one of the 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:42.460 founding fathers of Federation. And on the back, 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:44.659 they featured Catherine Helen Spence, a prominent 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:47.580 writer and suffragist. But the true artistic 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.360 and technological revolution happens a bit later 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.620 on September 4th, 2016. The release of the next 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:56.519 generation banknote, the NGB series. Right. And 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:59.179 for you listening, I want you to imagine the 00:09:59.179 --> 00:10:02.379 money in your own pocket right now completely 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:05.440 changing its vibe. It was a massive ideological 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:07.679 shift in what the currency should communicate. 00:10:07.870 --> 00:10:10.850 Imagine shifting from stuffy portraits of colonial 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:14.929 politicians and British monarchs to vibrant native 00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:17.889 biodiversity and rich indigenous art. It's a 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:21.250 huge contrast. The 2016 note features the prickly 00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:24.029 Moses wattle, which is a native shrub, and this 00:10:24.029 --> 00:10:26.730 gorgeous native bird called the eastern spinebill. 00:10:26.789 --> 00:10:29.389 So cool. And on the reverse, while they did keep 00:10:29.389 --> 00:10:31.730 the image of Parliament House, they added a deeply 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:34.149 significant cultural element. Yeah, they included 00:10:34.149 --> 00:10:36.389 a detailed depiction of the mosaic forecourt 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:38.629 that sits directly in front of the actual Parliament 00:10:38.629 --> 00:10:41.210 building in Canberra. That artwork is called 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:44.090 Possum and Wallaby Dreaming, right? Designed 00:10:44.090 --> 00:10:46.450 by the acclaimed indigenous artist, Comanche 00:10:46.450 --> 00:10:49.940 Jagamara. Exactly. So by replacing colonial politicians 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:52.899 with native flora and indigenous art, they aren't 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:54.980 just updating a picture. What are they doing? 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.100 They are literally forcing millions of people 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:00.919 to carry a reminder of the country's original 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.539 heritage in their pockets every single day. That 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:06.620 is so powerful. It puts the world's oldest living 00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:09.259 culture right alongside the modern democratic 00:11:09.259 --> 00:11:11.820 institutions. It acts as a daily subconscious 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:14.820 reminder of the nation's broader cultural synthesis. 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.149 A banknote is one of the few objects that interacts 00:11:18.149 --> 00:11:21.149 with every single demographic of a country, regardless 00:11:21.149 --> 00:11:24.129 of class, age, or background. So when the art 00:11:24.129 --> 00:11:26.750 changes, the national conversation subtly shifts 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:28.929 with it. Exactly. But let's be real for a second. 00:11:29.409 --> 00:11:31.909 These complex, intricate new designs weren't 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:33.750 just commissioned because the Reserve Bank wanted 00:11:33.750 --> 00:11:36.769 to curate a pocket -sized art gallery. No, definitely 00:11:36.769 --> 00:11:39.129 not. This beautiful artwork is actually the frontline 00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:42.169 defense in a highly secretive escalating arms 00:11:42.169 --> 00:11:44.570 race against counterfeiters. The artistry is 00:11:44.570 --> 00:11:47.370 entirely a vehicle for security. Right, because 00:11:47.370 --> 00:11:50.009 as commercial printing technology advanced in 00:11:50.009 --> 00:11:53.250 the late 80s and 90s, high -end inkjet printers 00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:56.309 democratized counterfeiting. The old paper notes 00:11:56.309 --> 00:11:58.830 from the 60s and 70s were suddenly incredibly 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:01.230 vulnerable. They relied on much simpler tech 00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:04.230 back then, like a watermark of Captain James 00:12:04.230 --> 00:12:06.610 Cook hidden in the paper. And a metallic strip. 00:12:06.809 --> 00:12:09.830 embedded inside the note. Oh, I read about that. 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:12.570 They actually had to move that metallic strip 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:14.610 from the center of the paper note to the left 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:18.850 side in 1976. Do you know why? Yeah, simply because 00:12:18.850 --> 00:12:21.289 having it in the middle was causing the notes 00:12:21.289 --> 00:12:24.049 to pile up unevenly when they were stacked in 00:12:24.049 --> 00:12:26.750 bank faults. Which is such a funny logistical 00:12:26.750 --> 00:12:29.090 nightmare. But fast forward to the next generation 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:31.929 polymer notes, and the security is just staggering. 00:12:32.110 --> 00:12:35.090 It is basically a flat, flexible computer chip 00:12:35.090 --> 00:12:37.809 of optical illusions. This is where that clear 00:12:37.809 --> 00:12:40.250 plastic polymer base becomes a true superpower. 00:12:40.909 --> 00:12:44.269 How so? Well, counterfeiters generally rely on 00:12:44.269 --> 00:12:46.789 high -end paper printers, but you cannot print 00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:50.049 clear onto paper. By putting a massive top -to 00:12:50.049 --> 00:12:52.750 -bottom transparent window right through the 00:12:52.750 --> 00:12:55.230 polymer note featuring a stylized gum flower, 00:12:56.020 --> 00:12:59.419 You instantly defeat the vast majority of traditional 00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:01.919 counterfeiting methods. The features they layered 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:05.379 into this NGB series sound like they belong in 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:08.039 a spy movie. They really do. There's a shadow 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:10.840 image of the Australian coat of arms that only 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:12.720 appears when you hold it up to the light. Yep. 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.179 And my absolute favorite feature there are these 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:18.879 tiny star points printed on both sides of the 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:20.500 note. Four points on the front, three on the 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:22.509 back. And when you hold the node up to the light, 00:13:22.889 --> 00:13:26.450 they align perfectly to form a solid seven -pointed 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:29.070 star. Think about the manufacturing colorances 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:32.309 required for that. It requires microscopic printing 00:13:32.309 --> 00:13:35.200 precision. If the front and back print plates 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:37.639 are misaligned by even a fraction of a millimeter 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:40.379 during this high -speed mass production, that 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:42.720 star looks blurred when held to the light. Which 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.779 makes it exceptionally difficult to replicate 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:47.000 in the basement. Exactly. And that's before we 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:48.580 even talk about the ultraviolet features. All 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:51.080 UV features are fantastic. If you put this note 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:53.840 under UV light, hidden elements suddenly glow, 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:57.240 the serial number glows, and a specific square 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.309 patch on the back lights up. Plus, there is tactile 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:02.250 raise micro printing all over the note that you 00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:04.529 can actually feel by scraping your fingernail 00:14:04.529 --> 00:14:06.529 across it. Okay, but I have to push back here. 00:14:06.549 --> 00:14:09.769 Sure, go ahead. We are living in a deeply digital 00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:12.350 world. Everyone is tapping their phones, using 00:14:12.350 --> 00:14:14.490 smartwatches, transferring money instantly on 00:14:14.490 --> 00:14:18.620 apps. Why invest millions upon millions of dollars 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:21.899 engineering ultraviolet squares and tactile micro 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:25.299 printing into physical plastic? Isn't cash rapidly 00:14:25.299 --> 00:14:27.519 becoming obsolete? It's a very common assumption, 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:29.720 especially if you live in a major urban center. 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:32.399 But the economic data tells a completely different 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.740 story. Really? Yeah. According to the Reserve 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:38.500 Bank statistics, by mid 2017, there were 211 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:42.220 million of these specific $5 NGB notes in circulation. 00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:44.960 Wow. That equates to over a billion dollars. 00:14:44.809 --> 00:14:48.970 $1 ,055 million, to be exact, just in $5 nets. 00:14:49.049 --> 00:14:53.009 That is wild. It represents 14 % of all banknotes 00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:57.409 in circulation. Physical cash remains a massive, 00:14:57.669 --> 00:15:00.169 fundamental, and highly vulnerable foundation 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:03.169 of the broader economy. So the threat of counterfeiting 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:06.610 is still very real. If criminals can easily replicate 00:15:06.610 --> 00:15:09.909 a $5 note and flood the market, the foundational 00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.909 economic trust completely unravels. But all this 00:15:12.909 --> 00:15:14.889 complex engineering isn't just about stopping 00:15:14.889 --> 00:15:17.529 criminals, is it? It actually solves a massive 00:15:17.529 --> 00:15:20.210 societal problem that paper money always struggled 00:15:20.210 --> 00:15:23.960 with. Yes. What's fascinating here is how security 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.759 technology overlaps with accessibility. Right. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.000 Those tactile features you mentioned, the raised 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.179 micro -printing you can feel with a fingernail, 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:34.360 they serve a crucial dual purpose. For the visually 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.879 impaired. Exactly. Before these tactile features, 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:39.519 visually impaired citizens had to rely on portable 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.360 measuring guides or just trust the cashier to 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:44.500 hand them the correct change. Which is a huge 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:46.820 loss of independence. It is. The raised mamps 00:15:46.820 --> 00:15:49.240 allow them to confidently and independently navigate 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:52.139 their finances. literally feel the denomination 00:15:52.139 --> 00:15:54.379 of the note in their hand. So the technology 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:57.519 protects the macroeconomic system, but it also 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.200 protects the individual's autonomy. Beautifully 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.019 said. So the physical security of the note is 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:06.039 as close to impenetrable as modern science allows. 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:09.840 But right now, the symbolic face of the note, 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:14.019 the actual soul of what it represents, is undergoing 00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:16.200 its most significant transformation in history. 00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:19.320 From a purely historical perspective, a currency 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:22.340 redesign captures a major societal pivot. And 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:24.620 we should state for the record here, we are simply 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:27.000 outlining the factual events and decisions made 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.600 by the Reserve Bank, not taking any political 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.799 stance on this. Of course, just reporting the 00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:33.940 timeline. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:36.320 II, who had been the face of the $5 note for 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.000 decades, discussions immediately began about 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.340 the future of the denomination. And on February 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:44.580 6th in 2023, the Reserve Bank made a historic 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:47.240 announcement. They stated that the new monarch, 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:49.679 King Charles III, will not appear on the new 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.500 $5 note. Right. Instead, on March 17, 2025, they 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:55.340 officially unveiled the theme for the upcoming 00:16:55.340 --> 00:16:57.919 redesign. The new note will celebrate First Nations 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.039 peoples and their deeply rooted connection to 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:03.519 the country. And significantly, the federal parliament 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:05.660 house will continue to remain on the reverse 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:07.759 side of the note. So what does this all mean? 00:17:07.930 --> 00:17:10.029 Well, it raises an important question about the 00:17:10.029 --> 00:17:13.029 purpose of money in the 21st century. It acts 00:17:13.029 --> 00:17:16.029 as a real -time historical document. Because 00:17:16.029 --> 00:17:19.430 it captures exactly when a society decides to 00:17:19.430 --> 00:17:22.509 pivot. Exactly. It documents the transition from 00:17:22.509 --> 00:17:26.609 traditional monarchical ties to honoring indigenous 00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:29.329 roots. And when you look at the specific detail 00:17:29.329 --> 00:17:32.049 that Parliament House is saying on the back while 00:17:32.049 --> 00:17:34.490 the front shifts to honoring First Nations peoples, 00:17:35.069 --> 00:17:37.309 it suggests a really fascinating architectural 00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:40.180 bridge. How do you mean? You are literally putting 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:43.220 the world's oldest living culture on one side 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:45.680 of the currency and the modern system of government 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.920 on the exact same piece of plastic. That's a 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.039 great observation. It physically connects the 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.180 two. Every time someone interacts with the new 00:17:52.180 --> 00:17:54.700 currency, they're holding a representation of 00:17:54.700 --> 00:17:57.349 a country that is actively trying to reconcile 00:17:57.349 --> 00:17:59.769 its ancient past with its modern governance. 00:18:00.210 --> 00:18:02.230 Which brings us full circle on the incredible 00:18:02.230 --> 00:18:04.630 journey of this little piece of plastic. It really 00:18:04.630 --> 00:18:07.029 is a wild evolution when you zoom out. We started 00:18:07.029 --> 00:18:09.650 with a pre -decimal era where the five dollar 00:18:09.650 --> 00:18:12.170 value literally did not exist. It was just a 00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:15.170 gap in the math. Then it was willed into existence 00:18:15.170 --> 00:18:18.789 as this mauve paper canvas covered in a very 00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:20.890 curated colonial history. Then it went through 00:18:20.890 --> 00:18:24.529 those awkward pale mauve plastic teenager years 00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:26.900 where Nobody could tell it apart from a 10 in 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:30.079 a dark room. Only to finally mature into a high 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.880 -tech, UV -glowing, micro -printed marvel that 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:36.200 is currently sitting at the very center of a 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.039 massive national identity shift. The next time 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.220 you, our listener, hold any piece of physical 00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:44.200 currency, whether it's an Australian fiver, an 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.759 American dollar, or a euro, take a moment to 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:48.940 really look at it. Yeah, look at the watermarks, 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:51.859 feel the textured art. Examine the specific portraits 00:18:51.859 --> 00:18:53.779 they chose to include and the ones they chose 00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:55.839 to leave out. Realize that you are not just holding 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.880 money. You are holding a miniature, highly engineered 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.180 time capsule that tells you exactly what that 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.619 country values at that exact moment in time. 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:05.380 And it leaves me with this final thought for 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:08.400 you to ponder. As we move closer and closer to 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.500 a completely cashless, digital society, a world 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:15.359 where everything is just numbers on a glowing 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:18.700 screen, will future generations look back at 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:21.980 these meticulously crafted, tactile polymer notes, 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.480 not as mere money? Oh, that's interesting. Well, 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:26.460 they look back at them as mass produced pocket 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:28.720 sized pieces of national art that we simply took 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:30.920 for granted. Something to think about the next 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.220 time you bypass the tap to pay and pull that 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:34.460 physical money out of your wallet.