His outfit caused a raucous reaction among more conservative colleagues.

Interestingly, all seemed rather unbothered by his outfit until he stood up to ask a question, coincidentally enough, on tropical kits for Australian soldiers.

"Isn't he lovely", and "Have a go at Bert's shirt" were among some of the comments directed at him.

Mr James was summoned into the speaker's office and the speaker told him that he did not think the jacket was in "keeping with the decorum of the chamber".

Mr James responded by stating "I think the speaker has taken a very narrow-minded view of this".

He highlighted that many of the members on both sides of the aisle agreed with the practicality of the outfit.

Reinforcing his position, Mr James stated "It seems that men will have to remain orthodox and impractical in their dress".

Unbeknownst to him, 50 years on, Patricia Karvelas was told to leave parliament as she had breached the dress code for having bare arms.

She pointed out that there were current no rules stating women were required to cover their arms in Parliament.

In response, other women journalists came out in solidarity and short sleeved and sleeves attire to Parliament.

The speaker at the time, Tony Smith, later stated that a mistake had been made and Patricia was indeed dressed in professional business attire.

See: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/11660439