Australia’s central bank announced on Thursday that it will stop using the British monarch’s portrait on the new banknotes to be circulated in the country, replacing it with elements that pay homage to indigenous culture .
The Reserve Bank of Australia said the new Australian five-dollar bills will not feature a portrait of the new British monarch, Charles III, but elements of Aboriginal culture and the Torres Strait Islands.
The central bank said Aboriginal people would be consulted on the new banknotes, which would take years to design and print, in a project that “pays homage to the culture and history of early Australians,” a statement said.
The portrait of Elizabeth II first appeared on the Australian five dollar banknote in 1992, marking the 40th anniversary of her accession to the British throne. At the moment this was the only note on which the portrait of the monarch, who died in September, still appeared.
“the Monarch [britânico] it will still be on the coins, but the five dollar bill will tell more about our history, our heritage and our country,” Australian Finance Minister Jim Chalmers said at a news conference.
The opposition leader compared the decision to changing the date of Australia Day. “I know the silent majority disagrees with a lot of this left-wing nonsense, but we need to listen to these people more,” Peter Dutton told 2GB radio.
The move was welcomed by the Australian Republican Movement, pointing out that Aboriginal people had lived on the island for at least 60,000 years before British colonization in 1788.
“To think that an unelected king should be sitting on our money rather than First Nations leaders and elders and prominent Australians is no longer justifiable in a time of truth, reconciliation and ultimately formal, cultural and intellectual independence,” said the chairman of the movement. , Craig Foster.
Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, which came to power in May 2022, has already pledged to hold a referendum this year to give Aboriginal people a voice in parliament and to recognize indigenous communities in the constitution.
Aboriginal people, one of the oldest cultures in the world, represent 3.2% of Australia’s total population, yet they have denounced continued mistreatment, in addition to being stripped of land and systematically discriminated against by institutions, organizations and society in general.
Although a staunch Republican, Albanese said after Isabel II’s death that the priority was the referendum on Aboriginal political rights, not replacing the monarchy with a republic.
In 1999, Australians rejected the move to a republic in a referendum. At the time, polls taken before Elizabeth II’s death showed the majority of Australians in favor of ending the monarchy.
The republican issue has been revived since the Albanians came to power and promptly appointed the first “deputy minister of the republic”, hinting that another referendum may be held in the future.
Source: DN
