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Labor MP Hugh McDermott has been accused of potentially misleading the NSW Parliament after he refused to allow the release of key details about his Australian Army Reserve service to prove a claim in his inaugural speech that he was a non-commissioned officer.
NSW Veterans' Affairs Minister David Elliott criticised Dr McDermott for "refusing to come clean" on his service record and challenged him to table it in the NSW Parliament.
"It is unprecedented for a newly elected member to mislead Parliament during his or her inaugural speech," Mr Elliott told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.
"By refusing to come clean on his military record, Dr McDermott is causing unnecessary anxiety amongst genuine veterans.
"I call on Dr McDermott to table his military service record and explain to his electorate whose medals he has been photographed wearing."
On Monday, Fairfax Media revealed Dr McDermott was refusing to consent to the public release of key details of his army reserve service to back up a statement in his inaugural speech to Parliament that he was a non-commissioned officer.
In his speech on May 13 last year as the new MP for Prospect, Dr McDermott referred to his time as an NCO in the army reserve, indicating he achieved at least the rank of Lance Corporal.
But after receiving his full service record from the Department of Defence, Dr McDermott has shown Fairfax Media only a 1991 leave application form signed by two superiors on which he has handwritten his rank as Lance Corporal.
He has been unable to produce documentary evidence to back up a separate claim to Fairfax Media that he also achieved the rank of Corporal.
A photograph published with the article, taken on Anzac Day in 2015, shows Dr McDermott wearing several medals from World War II on his right breast.
Relatives of deceased servicemen and women often wear their medals this way in the Anzac Day march.
Dr McDermott rejected Mr Elliott's demand that he table his service record.
"I stand by my inaugural speech to the Parliament and my service in the reserves as a Private, non-commissioned officer and officer cadet," he said.
"The service record provided to me recently by the army is littered with errors – including even the misspelling of my name. I have no intention of giving the Herald – nor those in the background pushing this smear campaign – access to personal records, which contain factual errors."
Dr McDermott did not respond to a question about whose medals he was wearing.
