Key Highlights

  • The RBA received more than 2,100 public submissions for the next $5 note.
  • A single theme emerged: Connection to Country, focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and history.
  • An Imagery Selection Panel decided on the theme.
  • The panel included members from the RBA, Note Printing Australia and First Nations members.

More than 2,100 public submissions fed into the Reserve Bank's process to reimagine the $5 banknote, and the theme chosen, "Connection to Country", will guide the creation of a new artwork.

Banknotes are among the most widely shared objects in any country. They pass from hand to hand, sit in wallets and tills, and carry images that people see so often they barely notice them. When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) set out to reimagine the $5 note, it chose to begin not with a design brief from within, but by asking the public.

According to the RBA's Reimagine the $5 website, the process drew more than 2,100 public submissions. From those, a single theme emerged: "Connection to Country", focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and history. That theme, the RBA says, "will guide the creation of an artwork".

From thousands of ideas to one direction

A public consultation of this kind faces an obvious challenge. Two thousand submissions can point in many directions. Someone has to weigh them and settle on a theme that can be turned into a design.

That role fell to an Imagery Selection Panel. According to the RBA, the panel included members from the RBA, Note Printing Australia and First Nations members, and it was the panel that decided on the theme. The composition matters. A theme centred on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and history was chosen by a panel that included First Nations members, rather than by the Central Bank alone.

The process, in summary:

  • The public was invited to contribute ideas, and more than 2,100 submissions were received.
  • An Imagery Selection Panel with RBA, Note Printing Australia and First Nations members considered the input.
  • The panel decided on the theme "Connection to Country".
  • That theme will guide the creation of an artwork for the note.

No portrait this time

One of the clearest statements on the RBA's Reimagine the $5 page is about what the note will not feature: "We won't be putting a portrait on the $5 note this time."

That is a meaningful departure. Portraits have long been a familiar feature of banknotes in many countries. By stating plainly that the new $5 will not carry one, the RBA has signalled that the design will be driven by the chosen theme and the artwork it inspires, rather than by the image of an individual.

The words "this time" are worth noticing.

What "Connection to Country" means for the design

The RBA has described the theme as focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and history. The theme is a starting point that "will guide the creation of an artwork". The artwork is the next step.

That sequencing is important for anyone expecting to see the new note soon. Designing a banknote involves far more than choosing an image. Notes must be practical to use, durable in circulation and difficult to counterfeit, and the process of moving from concept to production takes time. For now, what has been settled is the theme, not the final appearance.

Why the public was asked

Consultation is a recurring feature of the RBA's recent work. In its review of retail payments regulation, for example, the RBA reported that 76 per cent of consumers surveyed wanted card surcharging to stop, and its findings stated that "Surcharging on debit and Credit cards should end from 1 October 2026." Through its Community Research Survey, the RBA has also gathered views from 12,000 Australians across four waves since February 2025.

That survey connects to a broader theme raised by Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser in his Sir Leslie Melville Lecture at the Australian National University on 5 November 2026. He said: "Trust is central to all of our lives." He added: "That trust must be earned." According to the survey, about 55 per cent of Australians have "high" or "moderately high" trust in the RBA.

Banknote design is a very different task from monetary policy, and Mr Hauser's lecture was about trust, expectations and Monetary Policy rather than currency design. Still, the open approach to the $5 note fits a wider pattern of the RBA seeking to explain itself and involve the public. A banknote is perhaps the most tangible point of contact many people have with the central bank.

The reimagining of the $5 note comes at a time when the RBA is also attending to how physical cash reaches Australians. On 6 November 2026, it designated Prosegur Australia Pty Ltd under the Cash Distribution Framework Act 2026, following the designation of its parent, Linfox Armaguard Pty Limited, on 3 September. That designation makes Prosegur subject to obligations designed to support "a sustainable, resilient and efficient cash distribution system in Australia".

The two developments are separate. One concerns what a note will look like; the other concerns how notes and coins are moved around the country. Together, they show that the RBA's work on physical currency continues alongside its more widely reported role in setting interest rates.

The bottom line

The RBA's process to reimagine the $5 note drew more than 2,100 public submissions and has produced a single guiding theme, "Connection to Country", focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and history. The theme was decided by an Imagery Selection Panel that included RBA, Note Printing Australia and First Nations members, and the RBA has stated that there will be no portrait on the $5 note this time. The next step is the creation of an artwork guided by that theme. No Issue Date has been given, so the final design remains to be seen.