The new Australian five-dollar bill will replace the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with a portrait of the British monarch.
Instead, a new design is chosen that reflects and honors the local culture of the country. On the other hand, the Australian Parliament remains.
The decision, taken by the Reserve Bank of Australia, follows consultations with the Federal Labor government, which is also pushing for a referendum to recognize indigenous peoples in the constitution and consult with them on decisions affecting their lives.
“The Reserve Bank has decided to update the $5 note with a new design that celebrates the culture and history of the early Australians,” the bank said in a statement.
Green Senator Lydia Thorpe called the decision “a major victory for the indigenous peoples who fought to decolonize this country. The First Nations never ceded their sovereignty to a king or queen. Time for a contractual republic!
But it also angered the monarchists in the country. Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton called the move an “attack” on “our society and institutions”.
The death of Queen Elizabeth last year sparked renewed debate in Australia about her future as a constitutional monarchy. In a 1999 referendum, voters narrowly decided to keep the British monarch as head of state.
King Charles III, who became the British monarch after the death of his mother, is the head of state for Australia, New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the UK, although this role is mostly ceremonial.
In September 2022, Australia stated that the image of King Charles would not automatically replace Queen Elizabeth on $5 banknotes and that Australian figures could replace it.
Authorities said the decision to put the Queen’s photo on the $5 bill was about her personality, not her status as a monarch.
In 2021, Australia officially changed its national anthem, removing the reference to the country as “young and free” amid calls to recognize indigenous peoples as the world’s oldest civilization.
- with temporary agencies
Source: I News
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