Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to congratulate a remarkable young man, 13-year-old Connor McLeod, from Oakhurst in Sydney. Last year, the member for Chifley and I met with Connor and his mum, Ally, to talk about Connor's idea to introduce tactile banknotes to Australia. Connor is visually impaired. He told us of the difficulties he experiences in identifying different notes, and that he is often forced to pay for things using coins. So Connor started a campaign to introduce tactile banknotes to Australia. His campaign attracted the support of the Human Rights Commission, of Vision Australia, and of the 57,000 people who signed his online petition. The member for Chifley and I supported the campaign by raising the need for tactile banknotes here in the parliament.

Last week there was a breakthrough: the Reserve Bank of Australia announced that the next generation of banknotes will include a tactile feature. As Connor's mum Ally has said, the new notes will enable blind and visually impaired people to easily and independently differentiate banknotes by touch. According to a report by Vision Australia, at the moment around half of all blind Australians feel they are being short-changed during transactions. Thanks to Connor's remarkable activism, the lives of more than 300,000 blind and visually impaired Australians will be improved. Congratulations Connor!