MPs ‘trolled’ over Queen portrait law

SYDNEY: Australian politicians have been inundated with “tongue-in-cheek” requests for portraits of Queen Elizabeth II after a writer uncovered an obscure law allowing voters to request one at taxpayers’ expense.

Under the Constituents’ Request Program, Australians can ask their MPs for “nationhood material” including a photo of the Queen wearing a wattle brooch — a gift from former Australian prime minister Robert Menzies — and a pin featuring the country’s coat of arms.

The Queen is Australia’s head of state as it remained a British dominion after gaining independence in 1901.

Other material on offer includes the national, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, “nationhood documents” such as booklets on Australian flags and national symbols, and a portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh.

MPs said they had not received any requests for Queen Elizabeth portraits — until Vice’s Nicholas Lord pointed out the archaic provision in an article on Wednesday.

“Excellent trolling @VICEAU, I do find this to be comfortably the dumbest part of my job,” tweeted Labor MP Tim Watts, representing the Victorian seat of Watts Gellibrand.

“But be warned youth of Gellibrand: if you request a portrait of Liz, there’s nothing stopping me sending you some other ‘material’ in the same parcel.”

The “other material” in his package included photos of retired Aussie Rules’ Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy and former Australian Labor PM Julia Gillard.

Mr Watts told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he had received four dozen requests for portraits of the Queen in 24 hours after the Vice article was published.

“I think 99% were tongue firmly in cheek,” he added.

The Queen is hugely popular Down Under, although there are some who view the monarchy as an anachronistic colonial relic. Those pushing for Australia to become a republic failed to win in a national referendum on the question that was held in 1999.