Australia’s new five-dollar banknote will not include portrait of King Charles III

• Australia’s new five-dollar banknote will not include a portrait of King Charles III.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia announced the decision after consulting with the government.
• The new design will honour the “culture and history” of Indigenous Australians on one side.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Australia’s new five-dollar note will not include a portrait of King Charles III, according to the country’s central bank.

The new design of the banknote will honour the “culture and history” of Indigenous Australians on one side, while the Australian Parliament will remain on the other.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced the decision after consulting with the government.

Because the new $5 banknote must be designed and printed before it can be circulated, the current note with a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II will be used in the meantime – and will remain valid when the new note is released.

In designing the new $5 bill, the central bank said it will consult with First Australians, a national Indigenous-led organisation that supports entrepreneurs.

In a statement, the RBA stated: “This decision by the Reserve Bank Board follows consultation with the Australian government, which supports this change.

“The Bank will consult with First Australians in designing the $5 banknote. The new banknote will take a number of years to be designed and printed.

“In the meantime, the current $5 banknote will continue to be issued. It will be able to be used even after the new banknote is issued.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the change as a chance to strike a good balance.

“The monarch will remain on the coins, but the $5 note will say more about our history, heritage, and country, which I see as a positive,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton compared the move to changing the date of Australia Day.

“I know the silent majority doesn’t agree with a lot of the woke nonsense that goes on,” he said on 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”.

It is currently unknown when the new five-dollar note design will be announced.

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