Australia's spending habits started with these

 The History Of The Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar (AUD or A$), the world's sixth most traded currency, hasn't been around all that long. Before 1966, Australia was using the Australian pound.   The Aussie pound was introduced at parity with the British pound, but over time, lost value to the point where it remained fixed at the rate of UK£1 to A£1.25 for decades.  Whenever Britain devalued its pound in the twentieth century -- believe it or not, UK£1 was once equal to US$4.80 -- the Australian pound cheapened itself alongside.  Most of Australia's trade was then conducted with the sterling zone, and it was felt that an appreciating Aussie pound would tip the scales against Aussie exports. 

The Aussie pound, like its British counterpart at the time, was not a decimalized currency.   The pound was divided into 20 shillings (s), with each shilling being equivalent to 12 pence (d).  Prices were written like £3 5s 6d.  With 240 pence being equivalent to a pound, everyone had to write up the prices in such a retarded fashion.  Imagine calculating change with this system.  It was great for ripping people off.  People poor at math were fleeced, the rich got richer. 

The rest of the world outside the sterling zone, meanwhile, was using ultra-cool decimalized currencies.  Americans could walk with a cocky swagger.  With 100 cents to $1, even Americans who flunked remedial math classes could calculate the change off $5 for a $3.28 haircut.  Naturally, the Aussies became envious and wanted a decimalized currency of their own.  The original intent was to 'go decimal' in 1963, with a new currency called the austral, but 1963 came and went and Aussies were keener on Beatlemania then a currency with a corny name.  A new currency with a brilliantly original name, the dollar, was finally birthed in 1966, at a rate of A£1 to A$2 -- or 10 shillings to A$1.  It was a virtual copy of the South African plan of 1961 when the rand was phased in for the former South African pound at a rate of 2 to 1.  For months, prices were denominated in both currencies, before the Australian pound was finally sent to the gallows.

Many consider the change from British-style pounds to American-style dollars another snub at Australia's former colonial masters.  The UK decimalized their own currency in 1971, but they didn't abandon the pound.  They just changed the idea of 12 pence (d) being equal to 1 shilling (s) and 240 pence being equal to one pound.  To decimalize, 100 pence became equal to a pound, and 5 new pence (p) equal to one shilling.  Australia's unnecessary removal of the pound for dollars and cents says something about their changing relationship with Mama England as they nestled ever closer to their new best mate, the USA. 

Today's Australian dollar is colorful and soft to the touch and made from special material so it doesn't tear.  However, you'll be spending them so quickly, you'd never have had a real opportunity to try to tear them up even if they were still made of lesser materials.  Australian bills come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100.  There is no $1 bill, only a coin, which looks deceivingly like a British one-pound coin.  The Australians probably designed the $1 coin similar to the UK£1 coin so as to bilk Brits out of their more valuable pounds.