On Friday 27 October, NPA was honoured to have Governor Michele Bullock visit the site. Her visit involved the formality of signing off on the new Australian $50 master sheet that displays her signature, and also involved a tour and a number of informal chats with staff along the way.
A very humble and gracious person, signing the sheet allowed for a moment of reflection for the Reserve Bank of Australia's 9th Governor and first woman to hold the office when she said, "My Mum and Dad are really proud of this. I never imagined that I would ever be seeing my signature on a banknote."
Governor Bullock has a long history with NPA and the Craigieburn site and was very interested to see the many changes that had taken place since her responsibilities connected to banknote manufacture ended in 2016. While being introduced to new machines, processes and capabilities developed in the last seven years the Governor also took the opportunity to have many informal conversations with staff.
"She was really nice and very easy to talk to," said Ramanpreet Kaur after meeting the Governor in the QC Lab. "Desh (Deshiene Sancho) and I are both pregnant and both due in February, so we felt very happy and proud to meet her at this time in our lives - it's good luck!"
In reflecting on the visit, our CEO Malcolm McDowell says "It was great to welcome Michele back to NPA and witness her delight in re-engaging with the banknote manufacturing processes and most of all our people."
