On 4 June 2008, I moved a second reading amendment to the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Bill 2008. In the Port Stephens Examiner on 19 June 2008, the Minister for Defence was quoted as saying:

This amendment was rejected by the parliamentary clerks because it did not comply with Parliament House rules.

I ask for the minister to retract this comment. The amendment did go to the House, and the defence minister did vote on the amendment. I also have written confirmation from the Clerk Assistant (Table), Department of the House of Representatives, which clearly states that the amendment was in order. I ask the Minister for Defence to apologise for misleading the newspaper readers on what actually happened.

An incident having occurred in the gallery—