This is why, even in the midst of current events, NLA staff are already searching for the documentary and other material evidence that will provide the primary source materials for future historians.

Elections are a case in point. While most Australians are caught up in the sheer joie de vivre of the moment, the scintillating wit of the electronic advertising campaigns, the lyrical prose employed by the intellectual leviathans doing battle on all sides of the bipolar political spectrum and the wonderful opportunity to exercise the right to be compelled to vote or else pay a fine, the NLA just wants the protagonists' stuff. And it can be amazing stuff indeed, as this picture of a corflute cutout of Bob Katter illustrates.

Bob who, like Clive Palmer, tried to turn himself into a political brand with the formation of Katter's Australian Party, enlisted the support of a number of candidates who were almost all issued with one of the cardboard cutouts to keep them company on the campaign trail.

"At the height of the campaign last year we put out a call on Twitter for election material and specifically asked for one of the Katter cutouts," ephemera officer Catherine Aldersey said.

"We received a response from one candidate who said we could have his as soon as he was finished with it. He referred to it as his 'chick magnet', and actually agreed to deliver as there were concerns it might be damaged in the mail."

While the figurine is uncharacteristically red-faced, this is put down to budget printing, not political commentary.

Now all the NLA needs is a life-sized Clive Palmer and it will have a matching set.