An Australian monarchist group has responded to plans by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to replace royalty on the $5 note by issuing its own draft design featuring King Charles.
In March, the RBA announced it would “honour the strong emotional, spiritual and physical connection of First Nations peoples to country” by incorporating Indigenous themes and would remove the image of the monarch.
RBA Assistant Governor of Business Services Michelle McPhee said the redesigned note would be guided by Indigenous concepts of the land, waters, and sky.
“The selection of a theme follows an Australia-wide campaign, which led to more than 2,100 theme nominations from the public,” he said.
The cost of consultations for the new note has been widely reported to be more than half a million dollars.
And while concepts for the new note are already in the works, the 20,000-strong Australian Monarchists League (AML) says it will be sending off its own new idea for the $5 note—one that incorporates both Indigenous themes and King Charles.
The design was invented with the help of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors, would involve minimal disruption to the original design, and would maintain the recognisable pink colour.
“I believe all Australians would be proud of this note,” AML spokesperson and Australian of Indigenous heritage Jack Barton said in a statement.
“Unlike the Labor government’s divisive decision to remove the portrait of the sovereign from the $5 note, this design is a testament to the shared journey between Indigenous Australia and the Westminster Parliamentary system underpinned by our constitutional monarchy.”
AML National Chairman Philip Benwell said the decision to remove the monarch from the $5 note was both politically motivated and divisive.
The group has described the change as “neo-communism.”
“The Australian people voted overwhelmingly against a republic in 1999 and therefore our institutions and national symbols must reflect the vote Australians overwhelmingly made,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also commented on the RBA’s plans for the new $5 note, calling them “an assault on our systems, society and our institutions.”
The AML says it received a letter from the opposition stating that “the Coalition believes Australia has benefitted from the stability of a democracy with the monarchy as our bedrock.”
