NPA has its origins as a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank and was established in 1913 to print banknotes for Australia.

NPA print banknotes for several other countries as well as Australia due to the high standards of durability and difficulty of counterfeiting.

In the mid 1960s Australia was hit by forgeries of the newly introduced $10 paper decimal note.

In 2020, NPA won the Currency Services Award by the London-based industry organisation Central Banking[6] and won a Printing Industry Craftsmanship Awards Gold Medal for the design and production of the Solomon Islands new $5 polymer banknote.

The order, by Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth, which forbids publication of corruption allegations against named government officials of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, includes a specific exemption allowing the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to pass banned information on to NPA.