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King Charles III will not “automatically” appear on Australia’s $5 note because Queen Elizabeth II featured due to her “personal” status, the assistant minister for treasury has said.
Andrew Leigh made the comments at the Royal Australian Mint on Tuesday, refusing to rule out featuring an Australian other than the new monarch on the smallest denomination note and even floating the possibility of abolishing the 5c coin.
The mint is preparing to mint new coins featuring King Charles III to be released in 2023, although no effigy design has yet been approved. Coins featuring Queen Elizabeth II will remain legal currency.
With 15bn coins featuring the Queen in circulation and only 110m to 150m new coins minted a year, Lizzies are likely to outnumber Charleses on Australia’s coins for many years to come.
Despite the Albanese government’s aim to make Australia a republic, Leigh told reporters in Canberra the monarch would feature on Australian coins “as a matter of tradition”.
“As the prime minister has made clear our first-priority constitutional reform is [an Indigenous] voice to parliament,” he said.
