Australia removes British royal family from five dollar bills

Charles III of England has inherited his mother's office, but not all of its privileges.

The current king of the United Kingdom will not appear on the Australian five dollar bills to replace the image of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8.

This has been decided by the Reserve Bank of Australia – the country's central bank – which, according to the Reuters agency, has opted to include details of indigenous history and culture instead.

"This is a good opportunity to strike a good balance between the monarch on the coins and a First Nations design on the fiver note," said Australian Treasury Minister Jim Chalmers, as the coins do need to bear the effigy of the British monarch.

For the new design, the bank will consult with indigenous groups, a process, along with printing, that will take several years.

Until then, the ticket will remain the current one, with the face of Isabel II on one side and an image of the national Parliament on the other.

"The decision to include the queen's face on the five-dollar bill was more for herself than for her status as monarch, so the transition (to the image of her son Carlos) is not automatic," he said months ago. Andrew Leigh, Deputy Treasury Secretary.

More information

29,000 million coins will change the face of Isabel II for that of Carlos III, but the producers of 'souvenirs' do not intend to do the same

Portraits of Elizabeth II on different one and five dollar bills.

Simon McGill (Getty)

The resolution, according to the British newspaper

, has sparked an intense debate in Australia, starting with the reaction of the main opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who considers the initiative "another attack" on the Australian system, society and institutions.

“There is no doubt that this is government-led and I think the prime minister should recognize that,” Dutton said, referring to Anthony Albanese, the current president, leader of the Labor Party and a recognized Republican.

On the contrary, other political leaders such as the senator of the Greens Lidia Thorpe have described the news as "a great victory for the grassroots associations, the people of the First Nations who have been fighting for decolonization."

“They never ceded our sovereignty to any king or queen.

It is time for a treaty for the republic ”, she added on her social networks.

This is a massive win for the grassroots, First Nations people who have been fighting to decolonize this country.

First Nations people never ceded our Sovereignty to any King or Queen, ever.

Time for a Treaty Republic!

pic.twitter.com/J4LjyFXwUe

— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) February 2, 2023

Last October, barely a month after the death of the monarch, a popular initiative was carried out to not include his successor on the banknotes and to put Steve Irwin in his place, an adventurer known as "the crocodile hunter" and very popular in the country thanks to the television show he starred in between 1995 and 2007. The famous Australian presenter and naturalist died in 2006 when a stingray fish pierced his chest with its tail stinger as he swam alongside him.

In a survey conducted last October by the local

, 43% of voters said that the five-dollar note had an Australian character, compared to 34% who opted for Charles from England.

The death of Isabel II has revived the debate on the constitutional monarchy in the country, which in 1999 voted in a referendum and by a narrow margin not to become a republic.

Despite being independent from the United Kingdom since the beginning of the 20th century, Australia belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations along with 55 other countries and has the British monarch as head of state.