Australia has a new $5 note and people are disgusted

Get excited, or not, Australia.
 By 
Johnny Lieu
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Australia's brand spanking new five dollar note has been revealed and the public is outright hating on it. 

The latest version of the note has some of the same features of the old note: Queen Elizabeth, purple hues and the size. It's the toilet brush-like wattle, the fact that the Queen in her old age is still on the note and the Ken Done swimsuit design that are the main issues people have with the latest iteration. 

Let's not even mention that the dirty whale trick -- which brought joy to a generation -- is no longer. 


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Some of the changes include a new "tactile" feature that will help the vision impaired find their way around certain notes, and a "top to bottom window" down the middle of the note -- decorated with the Prickly Moses wattle and the Eastern spinebill bird that harks back to an old Australian-themed jumper from the '80s.

The note has been labelled "hideous," a "monstrosity" and an "abomination," to put it lightly. 

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable


Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

It has been a while since the country has had a new banknote, so the announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia should have provoked excitement for our inner notaphilist, but it has obviously gone the other way.








The new five dollar note will be made available from Sep. 1, although it will take some time for it to become widely circulated. If you're one for the classics, you can continue to use the current banknotes as the new ones are issued, as there is no news on when these will become defunct.

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Johnny Lieu

Mashable Australia's Web Culture Reporter.Reach out to me on Twitter at @Johnny_Lieu or via email at jlieu [at] mashable.com

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