The Reserve Bank's brief for a new $5 banknote centres on Connection to Country, sets out what the design should recognise and avoid, and leaves out a portrait altogether.

Most of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) work this year has been about interest rates, inflation and payments. One of its longer-running projects is about something more tangible: what Australia's smallest banknote will look like.

The RBA's "Reimagine the $5 note" project has settled on a theme, Connection to Country, and has set out a design brief that will guide the creation of an artwork and, from that, a banknote design. The brief is notable as much for what it rules out as for what it asks for.

The theme did not come from a single source. The RBA received more than 2,100 ideas from the public, and those submissions fed into the selection process.

The choice was made by the Imagery Selection Panel. The panel includes senior representatives from the RBA and Note Printing Australia, together with prominent First Nations business and community members. It chose the theme and will continue to advise as an artwork is created and then turned into a banknote design.

The RBA's description of the theme is brief and expansive at once: "the land, the waters, and the sky. All are connected."

That framing points to a design built around relationships rather than a single image. It is about how elements of Country relate to one another, and how people relate to them.

What the brief asks the design to do

The design brief sets out several elements the RBA wants the note to reflect. In summary, it says the design should:

  • recognise emotional, spiritual and physical connection to Country;
  • acknowledge recognition following the overturning of terra nullius;
  • recognise First Nations contributions to conservation through traditional ecological knowledge;
  • avoid tokenism and stereotypes;
  • reflect diversity; and
  • carry a hopeful tone.

Each point shapes the work in a different way. The first sets the core subject: connection to Country is not only physical but emotional and spiritual as well. The second places the design in a historical context, acknowledging the recognition that followed the overturning of terra nullius. The third looks to the present and the future, highlighting the role of traditional ecological knowledge in caring for land and water.

The last three points are about how the design should feel and what it should avoid. A brief that explicitly rules out tokenism and stereotypes, and asks for diversity to be reflected, sets a high bar for the eventual artwork. The call for a hopeful tone gives the design an emotional direction.

Why there is no portrait

One of the clearest decisions in the brief is that the new $5 note will not feature a portrait.

Leaving out a portrait is a deliberate choice, and it follows from the theme. Under the Connection to Country theme, the subject of the note is Country itself, the land, the waters and the sky, rather than any individual.

That choice also fits the brief's other requirements. A design focused on connection, diversity and traditional ecological knowledge lends itself to imagery of Country rather than a single figure, and avoiding a portrait removes the question of which one person could represent such a broad theme.

From brief to banknote, and beyond

The process the RBA has set out runs in stages. First, the theme was chosen. Next, an artwork is to be created in line with the brief. That artwork will then be turned into a banknote design. Throughout, the Imagery Selection Panel will keep advising.

The RBA has not published an issue date for the new note. Anyone hoping to see it in their wallet soon should treat it as a project still in progress. The artwork and the design both still have to be completed.

The involvement of Note Printing Australia representatives on the panel points to the practical side of that process. A banknote is not only an artwork; it is also a product that has to be printed and used. Having those perspectives on the panel alongside First Nations business and community members brings both the cultural and the production considerations into the same discussion.

The $5 note project sits alongside other RBA work on cash and payments. The Payments System Board noted in its August 2026 update that the Cash Distribution Framework Act 2026 had commenced on 27 August 2026, describing it as "a significant step towards supporting the long-term sustainability of the cash distribution system".

Cash also features in the RBA's card surcharging reforms, which took effect on 1 October 2026. Surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards have ended, but the RBA's FAQs confirm that businesses can still offer discounts, including for paying in cash.

None of this changes the $5 project directly. But it is a reminder that banknotes remain part of the payments landscape the RBA oversees, even as card and digital payments draw much of the attention.

Reading the brief as a statement

Design briefs are usually technical documents. This one also reads as a statement of intent. It asks for a design that recognises connection to Country, acknowledges history, celebrates First Nations contributions to conservation, and does so without tokenism or stereotype, in a way that reflects diversity and looks forward with hope.

That is a demanding combination. Balancing historical acknowledgement with a hopeful tone, and broad themes with a single printed note, will be the task for the artwork and the design that follow. The continuing role of the Imagery Selection Panel suggests the RBA expects that balance to be worked through carefully rather than settled at the outset.

The bottom line

The next $5 note will be built around Connection to Country, a theme chosen by the Imagery Selection Panel after more than 2,100 public ideas. The brief asks the design to recognise emotional, spiritual and physical connection to Country, acknowledge recognition following the overturning of terra nullius, recognise First Nations contributions to conservation through traditional ecological knowledge, avoid tokenism and stereotypes, reflect diversity and strike a hopeful tone. There will be no portrait. An artwork still has to be created and turned into a design, and no issue date has been published.