$5 AUD note & bill

The new $5 polymer banknote was issued on 1 September 2016.

The banknote has a range of innovative new security features designed to keep the banknote secure from counterfeiting.

Each denomination in the new series of banknotes will feature a different species of Australian wattle and a native bird within a number of the security features. On the $5 banknote, these are the Prickly Moses wattle (Acacia verticillata subsp. ovoidea) and the Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris).

The new $5 banknote retains the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which is drawn from the same source photograph represented on the first polymer $5 banknote. The banknote also depicts New Parliament House and the Forecourt Mosaic, which is based on a Central Desert dot-style painting by Michael Nelson Jagamara titled ‘Possum and Wallaby Dreaming’ and a schematic plan of the New Parliament House. This was based on the Design Development Landscape Plan, which was provided by the Parliament House Construction Authority.

This is the first denomination in the new banknote series, and the fourth polymer $5 banknote issued since 1992.

The building depicted in the top-to-bottom window is Federation Pavilion, which was the site of the official ceremony that marked the proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia.