About our Responsibility for Banknotes
The Reserve Bank Act 1959 confers on the Reserve Bank of Australia the responsibility for the production and issue, reissue and cancellation of Australia's banknotes.
The Reserve Bank manages its banknote responsibilities through its Note Issue Department which arranges for Australia's banknotes to be printed by Note Printing Australia Limited (NPA), a separately incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank, located at Craigieburn in Victoria.
Banknotes are ordered from the Reserve Bank by commercial banks and initially distributed from the National Note Processing and Distribution Centre (NNPDC) and the Reserve Bank's Head Office in Sydney to cash centres operated by armoured car companies. Day-to-day distribution, storage and banknote processing is undertaken by armoured car companies on behalf of the commercial banks.
The Royal Australian Mint in Canberra is responsible for the production of Australia's circulating coins.
Achieving a Clean, Counterfeit-Free Circulation
The Reserve Bank aims to have only good quality banknotes in circulation. This helps to maintain confidence in Australia's currency by making it more difficult for counterfeit banknotes to be passed or remain in circulation.
To achieve this, the Reserve Bank has established quality standards for banknotes in circulation set out in a Note Sorting Guide. Banknotes which are identified by banks, other authorised deposit-taking institutions and cash centre operators as no longer fit for circulation are returned to the NNPDC. From time to time, the Bank also arranges for the return of circulating banknotes to the NNPDC. These banknotes are processed through high-speed automated machines to check for quality and authenticity. This enables the Bank to monitor the quality and authenticity of banknotes in circulation, gauge the level of fitness of banknotes in circulation and ensure they remain counterfeit-free. Authentic unfit banknotes are destroyed, authentic fit banknotes are reissued to commercial banks and counterfeit banknotes are passed to the Australian Federal Police.
To assist the public and others to determine whether they have a counterfeit banknote, the Bank has produced a Counterfeit Detection Guide.
