Following more than 2,000 design submissions, Australia’s next $5 note won’t feature the face of a British monarch and instead offer the chance of showing the country’s uniqueness
A redesigned Australian $5 bill will feature a new Indigenous theme in place of the British monarch.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) revealed that the note’s net design won’t have an image of King Charles III. This is set to be the first time that a monarch’s image won’t be used on the bill.
Queen Elizabeth II’s face has been on a $5 bill – the country’s smallest note – since 1992. However, RBA assistant governor Michelle McPhee said the next theme is called Connection to Country and will instead focus on the significance of country to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Country is the land, the waters and the sky. Key to this theme is the recognition of First Nations communities’ contribution to the restoration and conservation of our environment,” RBA noted in a statement
More than 2,100 submissions were made by the Australian people for the new design, which is yet to be finalised. The RBA said that each submission should take into account the 1992 overturning of the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’.
This was the legal justification for treating Australia as a settled colony in 1788 and not a conquered land. The overturning in 1992 by the high court recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ continuing connection and rights to land and water.
The RBA explained: “An important context for this connection is the overturning of the concept of terra nullius. In acknowledging connection and caring for Country the theme should be inclusive, recognising the nature of Country varies, but it is all connected.”
The bank said the updated note was a chance to represent what makes Australia so special – its First Nations people – and so it should “avoid being tokenistic or stereotypical”. The new bills are expected to come into circulation in several years’ time, reports news.com.au.;/
The initial announcement in 2023 that King Charles III wouldn’t be on the $5 bill was criticised by opposition leader Peter Dutton. “I know the silent majority don’t agree with a lot of the woke nonsense that goes on but we’ve got to hear more from those people online,” he told 2GB Radio back then.
Dutton added that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was central to the decision for the king not to appear on the note, urging him to “own up to it”. While Senator Lidia Thorpe described it as “a massive win for the grassroots, First Nations people” who have been fighting to “decolonise” Australia.
She tweeted at the time: “This is a massive win for the grassroots, First Nations people who have been fighting to decolonise this country. First Nations people never ceded our Sovereignty to any King or Queen, ever. Time for a Treaty Republic!”
First Nations people lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years before British colonisation, it is estimated. The British monarch remains Australia’s head of state but is nowadays seen as a largely symbolic role.
Australia is one of the former British colonies debating to what extent it should retain its constitutional ties to Britain. When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, the government had already committed to holding a referendum that year to acknowledge Indigenous people in the constitution.
The government has dismissed adding a republic question to that referendum as an unwanted distraction from its Indigenous priority. At one time, Queen Elizabeth II appeared on at least 33 different currencies – more than any other monarch and a world record.
