Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.

Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?

Yes.

Please proceed.

In a speech on the Australian citizenship amendment bill I made the statement that I believe in a thing called patriotism and I love my nation. I have served overseas in uniform. I have stood on a front line, peacekeeping for my nation. I believe in the integrity of what my nation stands for and I will not stand in this hallowed place, in parliament, and see citizenship sold out for a few gold medals. The Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services then said in his speech after mine:

… the last three from the members for Fadden, Kalgoorlie and Cook were very wide ranging indeed. We heard one person boasting about his war record …

Mr Speaker, I do not have a war record. There is only one member in this House who has a war record—that is the member for Eden-Monaro—but I do have an operational service record. I, and the member for Eden-Monaro and the member for Cowan, take our responsibilities as former serving defence personnel seriously in representing defence personnel in this place. I do accept that the Parliamentary Secretary did withdraw and I thank him for that.