RBA responsible for note blue

The $2.3 billion of banknotes printed with a spelling mistake will remain in circulation.

The state-of-the-art new 50-dollar banknote, complete with misprint.

The $2.3 billion of banknotes printed with a spelling mistake will remain in circulation, the Reserve Bank said yesterday, after the blunder became public knowledge.

The nation’s new version of the $50 bank note, which began circulating in October last year, misspells the word “responsibility” three times on 46 million notes.

The RBA confirmed that it first spotted the spelling error in December, five months before it came to public attention.

The printing error was discovered after a listener called Triple M radio station with a tip-off to alert others. “Ten people stood at a wall looking at an image of the banknote from five metres away and it was the size of a kitchen table, and no one picked it (the error) up,” the listener told the radio station.

The yellow note features David Unaipon, an indigenous writer and inventor, as well as Edith Cowan, Australia’s first female member of parliament.

The error can be found in the “micro-text” of Cowan’s first speech to parliament printed on one side of the note.

Spot the error in the $50 note. Picture: AAP

An RBA spokesman said the banknotes will not be withdrawn or recalled as the spelling error does not affect their “validity or functionality” and they were still classified as legal tender.

“The process of designing and printing a banknote is complex and iterative,” the RBA spokesman said. “We have strict quality assurance processes but, like any manufacturing process, errors can occur.

“We have reviewed our processes to remove the likelihood of such an error occurring in the future.”

Recent changes to the polymer banknotes have already been rolled out with the $5 and $10 notes and include four raised bumps to improve accessibility and security features for prevention of counterfeiting.

“The application of the tactile features to the $50 note is particularly important given that it’s the most widely circulated banknote, with 46 per cent of all banknotes in circulation being the $50 note,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said at the time the changes were introduced.

“I believe the implementation of the tactile features would have made David Unaipon and Edith Cowan proud,” he added.

An RBA spokesman said the misprint will be corrected for the next print run, which will commence mid-year.

“It is the first print run of the $50 banknote we have done since the error was detected,” the spokesman said.

“These banknotes will be ready to be released into circulation around the end of the year.”

Rare currency dealer Jim Noble, from Noble Numismatics, said it was the first time in its history the RBA had pushed a typo through to circulation.

“They do misprint notes but they’re individual happenings rather than the whole production,” Mr Noble told news.com.au.

The Cowan speech phrase with the error in it reads: “It is a great (responsibility) to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here.”