Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation after a candidate made a controversial comment about gay people, saying the party is “one of the gayest parties in Australia”. His remark appeared intended to reject the suggestion that the party is anti-gay, but is likely to draw further attention to the candidate’s comments and to One Nation’s position on LGBT issues.

The article centres on the dispute involving the One Nation candidate and Joyce’s response. The supplied text does not include the candidate’s exact comments, the candidate’s name, or further details of the incident.