Quirk of parliamentary rule book means Australians are entitled to pictures of the monarch, Prince Philip and other ‘nationhood material’

It’s a great Australian tradition borne of our parliamentary system – contacting your local MP to complain about bin collections and unsavoury property developments next door.

But it turns out that parliamentarians’ real obligation to Australian voters is to be the nation’s least-known but best-stocked royal merchandiser.

Under the bizarre quirk, constituents are entitled to receive certain “nationhood material” under the “constituents’ request program”.

The best-known obligation is to provide Australian flags, which MPs’ offices have dutifully complied with many years. But the program also extends to other material, such as recordings of the national anthem, and portraits of Queen Elizabeth.

An article in the the online magazine Vice this week highlighted the little-known parliamentary code and has sparked a flurry of requests to MPs.

“As a good constituent and apparent royalist, I sent an email to my MP, Andrew Hastie, and requested Liz’s portrait,” Vice’s Nicholas Lord wrote.

“While I was initially told his office was out of stock – I apparently wasn’t the first Western Australian to want Elizabeth on my wall – three weeks later I had my portrait, along with some complimentary Aussie flags for good measure.”

Portraits of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, are also available.

Tim Watts, the Labor MP for Gellibrand and a republican, said he had received dozens of “tongue in cheek” requests for a portrait since the Vice story.

“I love my constituents. They have responded to this article in that Australian tradition of taking the piss,” Watts said on Sky News, while brandishing various portraits of “Her Madge”.

Watts said constituents who requested a Queen Elizabeth portrait from his office would also receive promotional material for the Australian Republic Movement.

Key points:
* Constituents are able to ask their federal MP for "nationhood material"
* This includes flags, the national anthem and images of the Queen and Prince Philip
* Labor MP Tim Watts will send Melbourne West-related material along with the requests

Melbourne MP Tim Watts says his office has received dozens of "tongue in cheek" requests for free portraits of Queen Elizabeth in the last 24 hours, but he is firing back with some "nationhood material" of his own.

Mr Watts said the requests came flooding in after a report by Vice Media that highlighted the little-known "constituents' request program" which allows for voters to receive free "nationhood material" including flags, recordings of the national anthem and images of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, just by asking their federal member.

Speaking to the ABC's Radio National Drive program, the Labor MP said most of the inquiries from his constituents in Gellibrand had been made jokingly.

"I can say before the story was published, I had received zero requests for portraits of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth," he said.

"The last 24 hours, I would say about four dozen.

"I think 99 per cent were tongue firmly in cheek."

In response, Mr Watts said he was perfectly entitled to use his freedom of speech to send extra materials back.

"I've chosen to respond to these tongue in cheek requests with a bit of nationhood material of my own from Melbourne's west," he said.

"Some portraits of [retired Western Bulldogs captain] Bob Murphy and [former prime minister] Julia Gillard, some Australian Republican Movement membership forms and an invite to our Wattle Day barbeque at Williamstown beach."

Mr Watts is not the only MP to be inundated. Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie wrote she had received 25 inquiries in 12 hours.

He said MPs were not legally obligated to provide the material, the legislation just created the ability for them to source the nationhood material.

The Labor MP said there was merit behind the program, with many schools and community groups acquiring flags and the constitution for various reasons, including educational purposes.

"Usually people request flags when they're representing Australia overseas for sport or school or community groups," Mr Watts said.

"Very frequently I give out Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and I think that is a worthwhile thing to do for our community.

"It's not all the farce of giving pictures of Liz [Queen Elizabeth II] and Phil the Greek [Prince Philip]."

Hey rtard Polly Waffle a portrait of Her Maj would look good on your mantlepiece alongside your bust of Baffled Billy.