Getup glitter 'stunt' sparks hazmat scare

All that glitters is not gold - just ask Craig Laundy.

Staff for the less-than-impressed federal Liberal MP were forced to call in a cavalcade of emergency services units on Monday after receiving letters containing what they thought was suspicious powder.

Turned out it was merely glitter.

The envelopes, sent to the MP's western Sydney electorate office, were from activist group Getup campaigning for marriage equality.

They had posted the sparkly substances on Friday to all coalition MPs they considered were blocking a free vote on same-sex marriage.

But it led to six police cars, six fire trucks and a hazmat unit being called out to Mr Laundy's office.

The western Sydney MP took to Facebook to slam Getup's "stupid stunt", saying sending undeclared substances to a federal parliamentarian would obviously cause alarm.

"To clarify the envelope was unopened but it clearly had a powder-like substance inside. The police dealt with the matter accordingly," Mr Laundy tweeted on Tuesday.

Getup apologised for the confusion but said it was merely demonstrating concern for an important issue.

"We hope nobody was unduly concerned for an extended period by the glitter," it said in a statement.