The RBA's Imagery Selection Panel brings together Central Bank officials, banknote printers and prominent First Nations community members to guide a $5 note celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Who decides what goes on Australia's money? For most of the country's history, that question has attracted little public attention. Designs are unveiled, notes enter circulation, and people get on with spending them. The Reserve Bank of Australia's project to reimagine the $5 note is taking a noticeably different approach, and one of the clearest signs of that is the make-up of the group guiding it.

The RBA's new $5 note is being designed to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures (as announced in March 2025), replacing a portrait-based design. An Imagery Selection Panel guides the project. It includes RBA officials, representatives of Note Printing Australia, and prominent First Nations community members.

That combination tells a story about how the RBA sees the task: as a piece of cultural work that must also meet the exacting requirements of a working currency.

Three groups, three kinds of expertise

Each of the three groups on the Imagery Selection Panel brings something distinct.

  • RBA officials. The Reserve Bank is responsible for Australia's banknotes. Its officials bring institutional responsibility for the currency, knowledge of how notes are used by the public, and accountability for the final outcome.
  • Note Printing Australia representatives. Note Printing Australia produces Australia's banknotes. Its representatives bring knowledge of what can be printed reliably and securely at scale, which matters for turning an idea into a physical note.
  • Prominent First Nations community members. These members bring cultural knowledge, perspective and standing that neither the central bank nor the printer can Supply on its own.

The RBA's published material describes the panel's composition in those terms. It does not, in the information drawn on here, set out individual members' names, and this article does not speculate about them.

Why First Nations voices on the panel matter

A banknote intended to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures raises questions that go well beyond aesthetics. Whose stories are told? How is cultural knowledge represented respectfully? How can a single small design acknowledge the diversity of many distinct cultures, languages and communities across the continent and the Torres Strait?

These are not questions a central bank is equipped to answer alone. In many areas of Australian public life, there is growing recognition that decisions affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should involve those peoples directly. The inclusion of prominent First Nations community members on the Imagery Selection Panel reflects that principle in the context of a national banknote.

The shift away from a portrait-based design adds to the significance. A portrait centres a single individual, and the choice of subject is relatively contained. A design celebrating cultures, rather than a person, involves broader questions of representation, and the panel's structure appears designed to ensure those questions are worked through with First Nations people at the table rather than on their behalf.

Their role also bears on the theme itself. After inviting ideas from the public, the RBA chose "Connection to Country" from more than 2,100 public submissions. In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, Country is generally understood to encompass land, waters and sky, together with the relationships, knowledge and responsibilities connected to them. Translating a concept of that depth into imagery for a banknote calls for guidance from people with cultural authority and lived understanding.

Why the central bank and printer are there too

It might seem that a cultural project would be best left entirely to cultural experts. But a banknote is also a piece of security technology and a tool of daily life, and that brings practical demands.

As a general matter, banknotes must be difficult to counterfeit, easy for the public to recognise and check, durable enough to survive years of handling, and accessible to people with low vision. The design must accommodate security features and leave space for the elements that identify the note's value. It must be printable with consistent quality in very large volumes.

Those requirements shape what is possible on a note. Having RBA officials and Note Printing Australia representatives on the panel means that practical constraints can be considered alongside cultural ones throughout the process, rather than colliding at the end. Ideally, that allows the final design to honour its theme while still functioning as reliable currency.

What the panel has done, and what comes next

The project has already moved through its first stage. The public contributed more than 2,100 submissions, and "Connection to Country" was chosen as the theme.

The next step is for artists to create artwork based on that theme, which will inform the final design. The Imagery Selection Panel guides the project, and its mix of perspectives will presumably be important as artistic work is weighed and adapted into a banknote design.

Some things are not yet known. No release date for the new note has been verified, and it would be speculative to suggest one. The finished artwork and the final design are also still to come. Members of the public who want to follow progress can subscribe for updates through the RBA's banknotes website.

For readers following the project, some questions to keep in mind include:

  • How will the panel's First Nations members shape the interpretation of "Connection to Country"?
  • How will cultural considerations and technical banknote requirements be balanced?
  • How will the RBA communicate the reasoning behind the final design?
  • When will more detail about the design and its release be shared?

The bottom line

The Imagery Selection Panel guiding the new $5 note brings together three kinds of expertise: the RBA's institutional responsibility for the currency, Note Printing Australia's knowledge of banknote production, and the cultural knowledge and standing of prominent First Nations community members. For a note designed to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, under the theme "Connection to Country" chosen from more than 2,100 public submissions, that mix is central to the project. The next stage, in which artists create work to inform the final design, will test how well the panel can bring cultural meaning and practical currency design together.

FAQs

Q: Who is on the Imagery Selection Panel?

A: The panel includes RBA officials, representatives of Note Printing Australia and prominent First Nations community members.

Q: Why are the RBA and Note Printing Australia on the panel?

A: A banknote must also be hard to counterfeit, easy to recognise, accessible to people with low vision and printable at scale. Their involvement lets practical constraints be considered alongside cultural ones.

Q: Has the RBA named the panel's members?

A: The RBA's published material drawn on in the article does not set out individual members' names.