Yahoo Finance 'Innovative' $20 note has new feature
Australians who are blind or have low vision will have an easier time using the new $20 note, which is designed with a tactile feature to help people know the denomination by touch.
The note, to be released on 9 October, features three raised bumps on the long edge of the note, allowing the 350,000 Australians who are blind or have low vision to quickly use cash.
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Previously, many Australians needed to use a mobile phone app or specific device to measure the size of the notes, a process described as “fiddly, time consuming and impractical” by Vision Australia advocacy manager Chris Edwards.
He said the feature will allow all Australians to “accurately and easily identify the cash they are handling, like the rest of the community, and that’s how it should be”.
“We commend the Reserve Bank of Australia [RBA] for responding to the needs of people who are blind or have low vision and demonstrating that accessibility is not something that should be put in the too hard basket.”
It joins the $5, $10 and $50 notes in including the feature, after advocate Connor McLeod began petitioning the RBA to make cash more accessible.
RBA assistant governor Lindsay Boulton said the new design also includes “innovative security features” in addition to the tactile feature which allows people who are blind or have low vision to “use it with confidence”.
RBA governor Philip Lowe announced the new banknote in August, telling Australians that existing $20 notes will still be legal tender.
“The new $20 banknote continues to celebrate the lives of two outstanding Australians. Their stories are told through the images we have incorporated on the banknote, which provide a rich and diverse narrative about their life in Australia,” Lowe said.
“Improved security and ease of recognition are important characteristics of the new $20 banknote. The same innovative security features from the previously released $5, $10 and $50 banknotes have been incorporated to help keep them secure from counterfeiting.”
The note also features anti-counterfeit designs, including a top-to-bottom window which contains dynamic coloured elements like a three-dimensional compass and kookaburra which changes colour as the note bends.
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