The royal freebie every Aussie is entitled to receive
If you are an Australian citizen and consider yourself a royalist, there is one interesting royal freebie that you are legally entitled to receive.
Australian citizens can email their local MPs and receive a free portrait of the Queen to hang in their home.
The freebie comes under the “constituents’ request program”, which allows voters to receive “nationhood material” – such as Aussie flags, recordings of the National anthem etc – but also a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
According to Vice, the portrait was taken specifically for Australians.
In the portrait, Her Royal Majesty is wearing her “wattle spray” brooch, which was gifted to her by then-PM Robert Menzies during the Queen’s first royal visit to Australia in 1954.
Under the program, Aussies can also request a Prince Philip portrait, however, photos of Prince William, Duchess Kate, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are not available.
Surprisingly, it is only Australians who can receive free portraits as UK citizens have to buy them and Canadians can only download them.
The constituents’ request program was introduced in the Parliamentary Entitles Act 1990, reported Vice.
The program has received criticism, with some saying taxpayer money should be better spent.
In 2012, then Greens leader Bob Brown said in parliament: “If there is extra money available, I suggest that it go to ensuring that indigenous people in Australia, who are being deprived of their first languages, be given an education in their first languages and that we stop some first languages going to extinction in this country.”
Brown added, “I think that might have priority. However, if there are members opposite who cannot find a picture of Her Majesty, I would be happy to provide them with one.”
What are your thoughts on this freebie? Let us know in the comments below.