Controller method's parameter returns NULL?

Hi all, I've tried pretty much everything and can't get the 'home' page to load with http://localhost but only with http://localhost/home

The code below is a test. 
http://localhost  <= loads the about page
http://localhost/home   <= loads the home page

What could be wrong? The $page variable is supposed to carry "home" but it's not. 

PHP Code:

class Pages extends PublicController
{
    public function view($page = 'home')
    {

        if ($page == NULL) {
            $page = 'about';
        }