The Reserve Bank of Australia has notified the government of their decision to remove the Queen Elizabeth II image from the Australian 5-dollar notes. The decision was made in consultation with the government. The Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to remove the image of Queen Elizabeth II from their notes, but the reverse side of the note will still contain the image of the Parliament of Australia. Australia’s Reserve Bank has decided to remove the image of the late British Queen from its five-dollar note to reflect and honor Aboriginal culture.
It was decided to do this after a discussion with the federal government. In addition to removing the image of the Queen, the Reserve Bank of Australia has said that the five-dollar note will be redesigned.
Tribal groups will design the new notes after consultation with them. They said the design and printing of the new notes would take several years. According to the Reserve Bank, there will remain a five-dollar note in circulation until new notes are introduced. The Queen of Britain, Elizabeth II, died last year. She was not only the British Queen but also constitutionally the Head of State of Australia. After the death of Elizabeth, King Charles III ascended the British throne. As a result, he has now become the head of state of Australia.
To ensure the new notes reflect the change of Head of State, the Reserve Bank has decided to wait until the end of King Charles’ reign to print new notes. This is to ensure that all Australian banknotes feature the portrait of the current Head of State.
After the Queen’s death, the issue of the British monarch being the ‘constitutional head of state’ in Australia has been resurrected. Voters voted in 1999 to maintain the British monarchy. It was decided, however, in 2022 that the Australian five-dollar bill would no longer feature Charles’ image after the Queen’s death.
