Australia to remove British monarch from banknotes

SYDNEY: Australia will erase the British monarch from its banknotes, replacing the late Queen Elizabeth II´s image on its $5 note with a design honouring Indigenous culture, the central bank said on Thursday.

The decision to leave her successor King Charles III off the $5 note means no monarch would remain on Australia´s paper currency. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it would consult Indigenous people on a new design that “honours the culture and history of the First Australians”.

Queen Elizabeth´s death on September 8 last year was marked by public mourning in Australia but some Indigenous groups also protested against the destructive impact of colonial Britain, calling for the abolition of the monarchy.

Australia is a constitutional monarchy, a democracy with Charles III as its head of state. A referendum proposing a switch to a republic was narrowly defeated in 1999. The central bank said its decision was supported by the centre-left Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who favours an eventual move to an Australian republic. The new banknote would take “a number of years” to be designed and printed, it said, with the existing $5 note remaining legal tender even after the new design is in people´s hands.