The nation’s central bank said Thursday its new $5 bill
would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III.
But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image
of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The $5 bill was Australia’s only remaining bank note to
still feature an image of the monarch.
The bank said the decision followed consultation with the
center-left Labor Party government, which supported the change. Opponents say
the move is politically motivated.
The British monarch remains Australia’s head of state,
although these days that role is largely symbolic. Like many former British
colonies, Australia is debating to what extent it should retain its
constitutional ties to Britain.
Australia’s Reserve Bank said the new $5 bill would feature
a design to replace the portrait of the queen, who died last year. The bank
said the move would honor “the culture and history of the First Australians.”
“The other side of the $5 banknote will continue to feature
the Australian parliament,” the bank said in a statement.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the change was an opportunity to
strike a good balance.
“The monarch will still be on the coins, but the $5 note
will say more about our history and our heritage and our country, and I see
that as a good thing,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton likened the move to changing
the date of the national day, Australia Day.
“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.
Dutton said 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.”
After taking office last year, Albanese started laying the
groundwork for an Australian republic by creating a new position of assistant
minister for the republic, but holding a referendum to sever constitutional
ties with Britain has not been a first-order priority for his government.
The bank plans to consult with Indigenous groups in
designing the $5 note, a process it expects will take several years before the
new note goes public.
The current $5 will be issued until the new design is
introduced and will remain legal tender even after the new bill goes into
circulation.
The face of King Charles III is expected to be seen on
Australian coins later this year.
One Australian dollar is worth about 71 cents in U.S.
currency.
British currency began transitioning to the new monarch with
the release of the 50 pence coin in December. It has Charles on the front of
the coin while the back commemorates his mother.
This week, there were 208 million $5 notes in circulation
worth AU$1.04 billion ($734 million), according to the Reserve Bank of
Australia.
Australia’s smallest denomination accounts for 10% of the
more than 2 billion Australian bank notes circulating.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party is seeking to make
Australia a republic with an Australian citizen as head of state instead of the
British monarch.
After Labor won elections in May last year, Albanese
appointed Matt Thistlethwaite as assistant minister for the republic.
Thistlethwaite said in June there would be no change in the queen’s lifetime.
Australians voted in a 1999 referendum proposed by a Labor
government to maintain the British monarch as Australia’s head of state.
When the queen died, the government had already committed to
holding a referendum this 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, an achievement noted by
Guinness World Records.
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