Early this month, Fiji Prime Minister announced that Fiji new notes will have no Queen Elizabeth image. The new banknote will have local plants and animals images in its design. Fiji Military commander Voreqe Bainimarama, who holds the titles of prime minister and finance minister among a clutch of other portfolios, gave no reason for the change. Fiji’s cabinet had accepted his recommendations for new designs on the country’s 10 coin and note denominations.
Fiji, a former British colony which gained independence in 1970, continued to feature the Queen on its currency, but several coups since then have left other Commonwealth nations questioning whether its instability qualified it to remain a member. The final decision to suspend Fiji from the Commonwealth came in 2009 after the government of military ruler Voreqe Bainimarama broke a promise to restore democracy following a bloodless coup in 2006. Bainimarama is angry following the UK's decision to support its removal from the Commonwealth
The new designs on the nation's ten coin and note denominations will be introduced June next year. Everyone is waiting which animals and plants that will be replacing the Queen image. Fiji native animal are very limited. Among them are fruit bats, crested Iguana, green kadavu parrots, endangered peregrine falcons, Fiji petrel, the silktail and the long-legged warbler birds.
