A press release from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on 13 February 2015 advises that the next generation of Australian banknotes will include a tactile feature aimed at people with vision impairments to enable them to distinguish between banknote denominations more easily.

The current series of polymer banknotes uses bright colours, large and bold denominating numbers and the notes come in different sizes but this has not be sufficient for some people with vision impairments, resulting in requests for a tactile feature (perceptible by touch) to be included in the next design.

The decision comes after detailed research by the bank, including consultation with the vision impaired community. There are various media reports regarding campaigns by the community to adopt denominating banknote features such as that of Connor McLeod.

The RBA advises that the “testing and trialling process for the next generation of banknotes is ongoing” and to expect future updates.

To see the full RBA report click here.