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Theme for new $5 note revealed after decision to remove monarch’s face
The theme of the new Australian $5 note has been unveiled after the Reserve Bank made the decision to no longer feature a portrait of the British monarch.
Australia's $5 note has been printed with the face of the late Queen Elizabeth II since 1992, but the upcoming design won't include King Charles III's portrait.
The Reserve Bank said today the banknotes will instead celebrate Australia's Indigenous communities and the theme has been announced as "Connection the Country".
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"The imagery on the $5 banknote should recognise the enduring connection that First Nations peoples have to Country – as an emotional and spiritual connection, as much as a physical one," the RBA said.
"Key to this theme is the recognition of First Nations communities' contribution to the restoration and conservation of our environment.
"Using traditional ecological knowledge First Nations peoples continue to act as custodians to sustain and conserve Country.
"There is an opportunity for all Australians to learn from Australia's original stewards on how to nurture and protect our fragile world."
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The theme was chosen after more than 2100 submissions were made by the public.
Final artwork has not been confirmed and the RBA said it should "avoid being tokenistic or stereotypical".
The chosen theme will guide artists as they create a new design for the fresh $5 Australian banknotes.
"The tone for the banknote is of a hopeful future, where First Nation peoples' connection to Country is celebrated and respected," the RBA continued.
The other side of the note will continue to show Parliament House in Canberra even after the redesign.
The late Queen Elizabeth appeared on Australia's lowest banknote between 1966 and 1984, when it was the $1 note, and from 1992 to the present day on the $5 note.
The RBA announced in 2023 it will replace the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on one side of the note with a "design that honours the culture and history of the First Australians" following the monarch's death in 2022.
It is expected the new banknote will take several years to be designed and printed.
Australia's $5 banknote in its current form began circulating in 2016.
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Pair charged after man allegedly assaulted with a machete in Brisbane
A second person has been charged after a man was allegedly assaulted with a machete during an attempted robbery in Brisbane on Saturday morning.
The 48-year-old was inside his car, on Audrey Street in Camp Hill, at 6am when he was approached by the pair, police say.
The two men were allegedly armed with a machete and threatened the man, demanding his keys.
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They left empty-handed from the victim's home, fleeing the scene in a Kia Sorrento before emergency services arrived.
The Kia had allegedly been stolen from a property in Kangaroo Point and was found abandoned nearby.
Police later confirmed the pair also stole two BMWs from a home just around the corner from the victim's home.
One of those cars, a silver BMW320i, was seen by police in Margate just after midnight this morning and the driver allegedly evaded police and fled the area.
The car was found not long afterwards, crashed into a fence in Redcliffe, and a 23-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
He was charged with multiple driving and property offences.
A 21-year-old man has already been arrested and charged over the incident.
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Woman in custody after man seriously injured following incident in Auckland’s Penrose
The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries, police said.
Judge Ema Aitken challenges referral to Judicial Conduct Panel after alleged incident at Northern Club during Winston Peters speech
NZ First claims she shouted: ‘He’s lying! How can you let him say that?’.
Person dies after being hit by train in Invercargill – second such death in a week
KiwiRail says the Invercargill tragedy happened at a pedestrian crossing.
Woman planned to sell dead man’s toes found in dog vomit, court hears
A woman who planned to sell human toes on an online black market after dogs regurgitated them has pleaded guilty to her ghoulish crime.
Joanna Kathlyn Kinman was employed at a Victorian animal shelter as a ranger when two dogs vomited up the toes and other remains in February 2024.
The dogs had been surrendered to the shelter after the death of their owner, whose name is suppressed.
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The man died of natural causes before his pets had eaten parts of his body.
Kinman faced Ringwood Magistrates Court today, where she pleaded guilty to offensive conduct involving human remains.
The 48-year-old was not required to speak during her appearance and was supported by her 17-year-old son.
Prosecutor Melissa Sambrooks said Kinman was not present when the dogs regurgitated the remains, but searched a wheelie bin looking for the toes.
"She located two human toes and took them home and placed them in a jar containing formaldehyde," Leading Senior Constable Sambrooks said.
Later, during a phone call with her daughter, Kinman discussed how she planned to sell the toes online and research suggested she could get as much as $400.
Police soon arrived at her Lilydale home after a tip-off from an unknown source.
Kinman made full admissions to possessing the remains and intending to sell them online.
She showed police where the jar with the toes was located, beside other oddities including an alligator claw, a bird skull, guinea pig trotter and her childrens' teeth.
Police found the mother-of-five was a member of the "Bone Buddies Australia" Facebook group, commonly used to buy, swap and sell specimens online.
Snr Const Sambrooks said Kinman was an avid contributor to the site and had previously sold "wet specimens" of a stillborn kitten and puppy.
She did not say where those remains were sourced.
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During her police interview, Kinman told officers she was curious about the toes and took them because "I know someone who collects weird things… I thought 'cool' its a toe".
Many of the dead man's relatives are unaware of the crime, with his son choosing to shield them from the investigation, saying his family had already suffered enough.
Kinman's lawyer Rainer Martini told Magistrate Andrew Sim his client had also been impacted by her "spontaneous" crime.
He said she lost her job and had her name spread online by a community which was "unsurprisingly repulsed by her behaviour".
"She has regretted fulsomely … not just for herself but for the impact on the family of the deceased," Martini said today.
Sim said it was "hardly surprising" Kinman, who had studied psychology as well as animal science, lost her job over the "entirely odd behaviour".
"I find it remarkable that someone of the accused experience and education would not know it was an offence," he told the court.
"It's astounding that she didn't understand taking two toes that had been vomited up by one or two dogs from a deceased person and sell them on the internet was the wrong thing to do.
"I'm still struggling to understand – it's astonishing – her behaviour."
Sim adjourned the hearing until Kinman could be assessed for a community corrections order.
The maximum penalty for the charge is two years in prison, but both the prosecutor and Kinman's lawyer agreed she should be assessed for a corrections order.
She is expected to be sentenced later today.
Kinman gave no comment to media outside court.
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Police crack down on Manawatū boy racers, say supporters will face consequences
Police dished out fines and impounded a vehicle in Manawatū over the weekend.
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Malcolm Turnbull argues AUKUS deal is ‘terrible’ for Australia
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the AUKUS partnership as a "terrible deal" for Australia.
The ex-Liberal PM ripped into the trilateral defence pact with the US to deliver nuclear submarines and warned Australia could end up empty-handed.
"AUKUS is a terrible deal. It is so unfair to Australia," Turnbull said during a doorstep interview in Canberra's Parliament House.
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"The most likely outcome of the AUKUS pillar one is that we will end up with no submarines of our own."
He added: "We will have lost both sovereignty and security, and a lot of money as well.
"That's why I say it is a really bad deal."
When questioned over reports US President Donald Trump supports the AUKUS deal, Turnbull said "of course" he would like it.
He said the Trump administration would be pleased with the $3 billion dollar deal and claimed there was "no guarantee" Australia would ever be handed the promised US nuclear-powered submarines.
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"Of course he'd like it, it's such a bad deal for us," Turnbull added of the security agreement with Australia, the United Kingdom and US for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
"He will be thinking who are these dumb guys who agreed to this deal?"
Earlier today, Turnbull similarly savaged Australia's role in the AUKUS deal on ABC Radio Sydney and said it was a "fiasco".
"The fundamental problem is that we are very, very likely, I would say, almost certain, never to get any Virginia class submarines,'' he said.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump was "supportive" of the deal in a meeting with Australia's Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles at the Pentagon in February.
The Albanese government made a $US500 million ($798 million) payment to Washington as part of the AUKUS deal ahead of the meeting between Marles and Hegseth.
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The plan would provide Australia with three Virginia-class submarines from the US, which is supposed to boost America's lagging rate of submarine production.
"The president is very aware, supportive of AUKUS and … the investment Australia is willing to make," Hegseth said.
He also said the Trump Administration "sure hopes" to have them delivered on time, with the first one due by the early 2030s.
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