Without being rude to the Leader, I wish to raise a point of order.

I am interested in the point of order the Senator wishes to raise.

On this occasion, it is a point of order. Will the Chair remind the Leader that it is regarded as inappropriate to refer to the absence of a Senator which he did in a marked fashion? There may very well be a good reason such as having to take an emergency telephone call.

That is not a point of order.

I would like it to be noted that I am now present in the Chamber.

The Senator is one of the Members who does not-----

I left the Chamber for two minutes.

It was not marked. It is a very important matter and to be fair, I was not singling anybody out. I do not mean to be pompous, but every day one sits through the Order of Business and may discover that some of the 19 Senators who have spoken have left. There can be genuine reasons, but if a Member raises a matter on the Order of Business, the least he or she can do is wait for the reply at the end of it.

I was here for almost all of the Order of Business. I left the Chamber for two minutes.

Let us move on.

I want the position to be clarified.

Let me make it quite clear that I was not referring to anybody in particular, but the Senator raised the Independent News & Media issue.

Yes.

The Leader was entitled to mention it. He could have ignored it. There was a ruling by the last Leader of the House that if Senators raised an issue on the Order of Business and left, it would be ignored. The Leader did not say it in a defamatory way.

I did not say it at all.

My remarks were not in any way defamatory of the Leader. I was only acknowledging regret about the decision made, while not attributing it to the Leader.

The Senator has made her point.