Australia has stopped printing bank notes for the first time in a century after workers employed by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) took a lead from the bank's governor and went on strike for a bigger wagerise.

With wage growth in Australia crawling around the slowest pace on record, RBA governor Philip Lowe recently called on workers to demand fatter pay hikes.

Workers at Note Printing Australia (NPA), a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBA, stopped work on Friday, demanding a 3.5 per cent pay rise, rather than the industry average rate of 2 per cent the central bank isoffering.

"If it is so important to lift wages across the economy then here is a rolled-gold opportunity for the Reserve Bank to show some leadership," said Tony Piccolo, regional secretary of print division at theAustralian Manufacturing Workers' Union. "Governor Lowe needs to practice what he preaches."

NPA has its only printing facility in Melbourne. Apart from Australian bank notes, it also prints currencies for other central banks using its polymer substrate technology, according to its website.

Customers include the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Bank of Thailand, Bank Indonesia and Central Bank of Kuwait.

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