The Reserve Bank of Australia has left the door open to putting King Charles III on the $5 note if a future government were in favour of restoring the monarch to the lowest denomination note, after leader of the opposition Peter Dutton made clear he supports such a move.
In February, the RBA announced that King Charles would not replace his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the banknote and instead it would feature a design honouring the history or culture of First Nations people.
Guardian Australia has reported that letters between the RBA governor, Philip Lowe, and treasurer, Jim Chalmers, revealed that Lowe had offered the government the choice to keep the monarch on the note, despite the RBA ultimately making the final call.
It will be a number of years before the new note design will be finalised, meaning the next federal election will be held before the new notes are in circulation.
A new cache of documents released by the RBA under freedom of information laws to the transparency website Right to Know this month reveal that the RBA would potentially offer the next government – should there be a change of government – a choice to put Charles on the $5 note.
In an issues brief of potential questions the RBA believed might be asked about the change, the bank stated that in the event a pro-monarch government is elected, the bank “will consult with the government of the day on the best approach to progress the $5 banknote”.
When asked if the Coalition would seek to overturn the decision if elected, a spokesperson for the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, pointed Guardian Australia to comments Dutton made on the Today Show on 3 February where he said there had been “a history to this – where the monarch’s been on the lowest denomination of your currency, that’s continued on”.
The issues brief addresses this in a section called “lines to be taken on difficult questions” that were approved by Lowe. The response says there was never a requirement for the monarch to be on Australian banknotes, and given the passing of the Queen, “this seemed an appropriate time to consider a change”.
The RBA also included responses to questions speculating about the timing of the change to coincide with the referendum on Indigenous recognition and the voice to parliament, stating the process needed to start now considering how long it takes to replace the note.
The brief also stated the bank should decline to answer whether the RBA or the government is “anti-monarchy” and whether it would have an impact on the relationship with the monarchy.
The RBA also confirmed it did not advise Buckingham Palace before announcing the change – something which the Liberal senator Dean Smith said was a “gross lack of courtesy”. The brief states there was no legislative requirement to include the monarch on the notes, so there was no requirement to inform Charles.
The document reveals there are $1bn worth of $5 notes in circulation as of the end of November last year, but the bank will not print more of the current design.
“For portions of the Australian community, cash plays a significant part in their day-to-day lives,” the RBA said. “While the role of cash in society is evolving, it is likely to remain an important feature of the payments system and economy for the foreseeable future.”
The RBA will also work with vending machine companies and other vendors that operate machines that accept cash to update their systems to account for the new note before the note is issued, the brief states.
